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THE 

Secret Lodge 
System 

JOHN VINTON POTTS 



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Class 
Book 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: 



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THE 

Secret Lodge 
System 



A Unique, Comprehensive and Impartial Study 

and Discussion of This Important Subject 

in All its Phases 



By JOHN VINTON POTTS 

Teacher, Gospel Minister 
and Author 



Published for the Author 



1909 

THE GERMAN LITERARY BOARD 

BURLINGTON, IOWA 



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Copyright, 1909 

By John Vinton Potts 

North Robinson, O. 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooies Received 

APR 15 W09 

. popyfik-nfiintry 
CLASS OU XXfcNo. 



CONTENTS 



PART I. 

THE OPENING 

I — The Approach 11 

II — The Two Forms of Organization 13 

III — The Concession 16 

IV — Two Classes, or, the Discrimination 18 

V — The Opposites 20 

VI — The Basis of Choice 21 

VII — The Major Orders 2 6 

VIII — The Effect 27 

IX — The Ultimatum 29 

X — Major and Minor 30 

XI — A Ruinous Basis 36 

XII — The True Basis 46 

PART II. 

THE CONTRAST 

I — The Christian System 51 

II — The Holy Bible ' 53 

III — True Benevolence 54 

IV — The Death Penalty 57 

V — The Place of God 60 

VI — The Heaven of Heavens 62 

VII — The Element of Justice 63 

VIII — The Place of Women 6 6 

IX — The Mysteries 67 

X — The Voice of Instinct 71 



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XI — The Realm of Reason 74 

XII — A Case of Conscience , 77 

XIII — The Civil Government , . . 80 

XIV — The Human Will .' 82 

XV — Varieties 86 

XVI — The Oath of God 91 

XVII — The Sacred Sabbath 95 

XVIII — Ultimately 99 

PART III. 

EMINENT OPINION 

Introduction 104 

I — Moses, the Man of God 105 

II — The Psalms of David ' 107 

III — Solomon, the Son of David 107 

IV — The Christ 107 

V — Paul, the Apostle 109 

VI — The Christian Churches Ill 

VII — John Quincy Adams . 113 

VIII — Charles Francis Adams 115 

IX — Elder David Bernard 115 

X — Edmond Ronayne 117 

XI — The Boston Orator 120 

XII — Brief Testimonies 137 

PART IV. 

THE SPIRIT OF THE MUSE 

Introduction 142 

I — An Eden Life 144 

II — True Friendship 146 

III — There is a Hell 147 

IV — The Forrester 149 

V — The Contrast 150 

VI — In The Light 152 

VII — The Wiser Way 154 

VIII — In The Right 156 

IX — The Reign of Christ 157 

X — Build on "The Rock" 158 



XI — We Are Free 160 

XII — In All Life's Lines 163 

XIII — Queer, Is He? 165 

XIV— The Darkest Thing 166 

XV — Village Rhymes 168 

XVI — The Mystery of Iniquity 174 

XVII — Resistance Denned 175 

XVIII — The Living Temple — In Three Parts 176 

XIX — Selling Secrets (By Rev. P. B. Williams) 179 

XX — The Real Remedy 181 

XXI — The Nemesis 181 

XXII — The Fastnesses of Freedom 183 

XXIII — A Warning Wail 188 

PART V. 

THE REMEDY 

I — The Individual 190 

II — The Home 194 

III — The School 195 

IV — The Church 197 

V — The State Government 200 

VI — Commerce . . . 201 

VII— Christ All and in All 201 



PREFACE 



Motive gives character to action. This is a settled principle in 
moral philosophy. A man may do a good thing for an evil purpose, 
or he may do an evil thing for a good purpose. In the first in- 
stance, the man's character is vitiated, though the action in itself 
is commendable. In the second case the man's motive is not to 
be impeached, but his judgment as to strict morality is to be con- 
demned. In the Divine ethics, the lesson is, God forbid that we 
should do evil that good may come. In matters of necessity we must 
choose the less of two evils. The writer is not conscious of any 
evil feeling or motive in the composition of this work or in its 
presentation to the public for their consideration. He has laid aside 
all prejudice, ill-feeling, spite and malice, and has in no way per- 
mitted himself to indulge in a spirit of retaliation. 

He is not here writing of men as men to men, but is dealing 
with truth, principles, institutions, conduct, organic forms, present 
and ultimate consequences, and tendencies. The author writes in de- 
fense of the Truth, and against the Wrong. Mere personalities do 
not convince the judgment. If principles and facts, and reasons 
and contrasts do not persuade men, then they are lost to hope 
and must be restrained by the power of civil law. But most men 
are amenable to reason, and the writer is confident of reaching 
and rescuing most of his readers. His aim is to show what large 
and serious results for good or evil arise from very small beginnings. 
A felon once confessed that his first theft was taking sweet cakes 
stealthily from his mother's cupboard. Another criminal on the 
gallows confessed that his first act of sin was picking a handker- 
chief from a man's pocket and then returning it for a reward. 
An eminent writer says that we must "condemn the sin, and yet 



love the sinner." This is divine. Yet those who persist in sin, 
will in the end themselves be condemned. The Writer would, if 
possible, save every one from this thralldom of iniquity. It is his 
sincere desire to have all his readers see this vital issue from the 
standpoint of the author, and to induce them to flee from the im- 
pending danger. He would have all those who are not in the toils 
of the system, to stay out of the snare, and not to be entrapped by 
association, or self-interest, or an over indulgence of curiosity, or 
the vain-glory of this world. These things all fade out in eternity. 
"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end 
thereof are the ways of death." This is a fearful saying! How 
applicable in this case! "Seemeth Right;" but, alas, "the end, the 
ways of death." He would have those who are already engulfed in 
the chasm of darkness and the dubious ways that lead to sin to 
come out into the broad, clear sunlight of the Divine Day. No per- 
sonal offense is intended by any severe terms that may be used in 
the progress of this work, or in the intensity of reasoning employed. 
Severe truths often demand severe terms to duly express the 
thought, and to produce conviction. Receptiveness of mind and 
intensity of interest often cause ordinary terms to cut like a keen 
edged knife. There are things "sharper than a two-edged sword." 

The author has not written to toy with the fancy, or to tickle 
the ear, or to lull the conscience in sin. He leaves such work to 
those who write for mere gain. His is a more earnest work. A 
serious destiny is involved in this task. That destiny involves the 
individual, the family, all our educational institutions, the church 
of Jesus Christ, all civil governments, and the commerce of the 
world. The writer is impelled by a high, holy and unselfish motive. 
The whole discussion involves the questions of right against wrong, 
of truth against error, of life against death, of safety against ruin, 
of celestial light against the deepest, densest darkness, of present 
and future happiness against temporary and eternal misery. In 
this work these things stand out in the sharpest contrast, so "that 
he may run that readeth it." 

There is much to be said in favor of the system which this 
work disavows. To be fair these things have been said: There 
is no condemnation here without reason. It will not be truly said 
by any candid reader that the author does not understand himself, 
or his subject, or that he is writing in the dark, or that he is writ- 



ing about what he but dimly comprehends. He has taken pains to 
inform himself. This is not an exposition of the secrets of the 
secret orders. The author is not now nor was he ever in that busi- 
ness. The appeal is not to idle curiosity, but is to reason and 
judgment on the broader basis of that which is known. The work 
is for the benefit of those on both sides of the issue. The aim is 
to present the truth, not on a shifting basis, but on an enduring 
foundation. The work is the result of a long, careful, severe, wide 
investigation, carried on through years of toil. It is a slowly 
maturing conviction, and as we trust, based upon a clear compre- 
hension of The Revealed Truth of God. It is not an exhaustive 
treatise, but fundamental in its character. Much remains to be 
said in the way of illustration and enforcement. It is written on 
the presumption that the members of the various lodges know some- 
thing about the system which they have wittingly or unwittingly 
adopted, and that no one will be so abandoned as to say, "Once 
in error, always in error." There is hope for the man who is will- 
ing to learn, if, when his errors are pointed out, he is willing to 
embrace the truth. 

The epithets used in the work are supposed to be characteristic 
and appropriate. Amusement and jocularity are one of the de- 
fenses of the system. But the question is a solemn one, altogether 
too serious for the writer to indulge in such lightness and frivolity, 
or even to make answer to such a trifling defense. The issue ad- 
mits of no frivolity in justification or condemnation. It must not 
be said that the author is making the subject too serious. A thing 
which involves time and eternity can not be made too serious. And 
yet we would not condemn the cheerful consideration of any ques- 
tion. But cheerfulness and frivolity are different dispositions. 
Neither bitterness nor trifling are in place here, nor indeed anywhere. 

The author has great respect for the eminent men and women 
who have been ensnared in this dreadful delusion. He sincerely 
desires their deliverance. 

Some repetitions occur in the work. The Bible indulges in 
many repetitions. An eminent speaker once said that he found it 
necessary usually to say the same thing three times over in differ- 
ent forms to make sure that the hearers fully understood him. 
Yet he was a very lucid speaker and writer. Two reasons are here 
given for these repetitions: First, To complete the thought under 



consideration at the time. Second, It is only by repetition that 
permanent impressions can be made on the human mind. But the 
author makes no reflections upon the judgment, understanding or 
perceptibility of his readers. It is thought that they will have no 
difficulty in comprehending the meaning of the author. Trusting 
that this disquisition may be received by all with the same spirit 
of kindness, good will and careful consideration with which it is 
offered, the author confidently submits the work to the conscien- 
tious, serious and devout attention of the public. 

February 28, A. D. 1908. 



Pi^JRT I. 

THE OPENING 



CHAPTER I. — THE APPROACH. 



I was very much interested, not long since, in reading an 
article in one of the Reviews recently published on "The Lodge and 
Men." This article set my mind to working on a problem which 
has engaged my attention for over fifty years, in which time I 
have had opportunities of studying the question in almost, if not 
all its phases. The writer above referred to states very fairly some 
important reasons why many men prefer the Lodge to the Church. 
But the author does not touch directly the basal reasons for this 
discrimination against the Church and in favor of the Lodge. That 
is a delicate and sensitive phase of the question, and one that 
writers are disposed to avoid in popular discussions. If men did 
not feel or think that the Lodge is better suited to their purposes 
than the Church, they would not very likely prefer the former to 
the latter. Many men have said to me that they find more in the 
Lodge to them than in the Church. It is very natural for the 
carnal mind to cling to that which is of most advantage in this life. 

In my early life I was favorably disposed toward the Secret 
Lodge System. Though my religious teaching was the very converse 
of this attitude. I had large secretiveness, great caution, and small 



12 The Secret Lodge System 



self esteem, so that secretism was congenial to my nature, and ap- 
pealed strongly to my sympathies and self interest. I saw many 
things in the Lodge which to my mind were commendable, and also 
very desirable to any one having ambitions in social life, in Church 
life, in the state government, or in the educational field, or in com- 
merce. What harm, I said to myself, can there be in these ad- 
vantages accruing to a young man by honorable association? The 
arguments advanced by Anti-Masons did not strongly appeal to me. 
If all said against the Lodges be true, there still remained suffici- 
ent reasons, I thought, to justify me in being a member of the 
Secret Lodge System. But it was a question as to the truthfulness 
of all that was said against the System. 

The lodges were generally made up of intelligent men. They 
were social organizations. They trained men in business forms, 
and parliamentary usages. They acted together with unanimity. 
They protected their membership, and promoted them to positions 
of honor, emolument and trust. They could be depended upon as 
confidants. And among strangers a man was easily at home. All 
these things were most certainly commendable. I noticed also that 
many of the most excellent men belonged to the Lodges. If the 
Lodges were such exceeding bad institutions, would these men 
remain in them, and give them their time, money and influence? 
Certainly not. 

As to the opposition, I said, there is nothing that some men 
will not oppose. Men oppose God, the Church, the Bible, Civil 
Government, Marriage, the Sabbath, and what not? Some men are 
so constituted mentally, their combativeness is so largely developed, 
that they can not live contentedly, unless they have something to 
fight. So they gratify their pugnacity by fighting the Secret Lodge 
System, a thing about which they, perhaps, know nothing. It is 
true, I said to myself, that they administer oaths. This I believe 
is not denied. They obligate or pledge their members. But, I said, 
the marriage ceremony is in the nature of an oath. The vows of 
baptism and in joining the Church are in the nature of an oath. The 
state government administers oaths. If the Lodges administer oaths, 
they have excellent precedents. Surely an organization has the 



Part I: The Opening 13 



right to protect itself against imposition and fraud. It is no doubt 
true that the Masons killed Morgan, and that many others have 
suffered the death penalty for mala fide. Some Masons confess that 
they killed Morgan, and that he had forfeited his life. All this 
may be true, I argued. But then I may kill a man in self-defense; 
the civil law hangs a man for murder; the military law shoots a 
a man for desertion; and for sufficient reasons, God has affixed the 
death penalty to sin. Why may not an order follow these examples 
in its own defense and protection? Thus to my mind the opposi- 
tion was all swept away. The objections had no ground upon which 
to stand. The arguments of the opponents were irrelevant to the 
main issue. If there was any thing radically wrong in the Secret 
Lodge System, that fact had not as yet to my mind been brought 
out. I saw too that the more men oppose the Lodges along the 
lines indicated, the more they grew. There never was so wonderful 
a growth of the Lodge System, as there has been since the Christian 
Cynosure entered the field with its expository opposition. This Cy- 
nosure Movement has been a fine advertisement for the Lodge Sys- 
tem. The defection from the Churches to the Lodges was rapid 
after the Advent of the Cynosure. Then in conning this question 
I concluded that the evil in the Secret Lodge System was in the 
abuse and not in the proper use of the System. But this did not 
altogether satisfy me. I thought the subject deserved farther con- 
sideration. So I put the question under advisement. It has been a 
habit of my life to put every subject I met in the crucible, and test 
it by the severest logical ordeal. I thought I could see the lameness 
of some of my own arguments. I desired to know the truth. It is 
of no ultimate interest to be in error. As this subject has been 
before me for over fifth years, it may be of some interest to my read- 
ers to know my attitude of mind, and how I reached my conclusions. 



CHAPTER II. — THE TWO FORMS OF ORGANIZATION. 

There are two systems or forms of organization among men. 
These are the open and the close. 



14 The Secret Lodge System 



The open form may be studied, investigated thoroughly, in 
all its parts and bearings, and fully known, without involving one's 
self in membership, or taking any secret oath, vow, pledge, or obli- 
gation, either actual or implied. We have instances of the open 
organization in the individual, the home, the Church, the civil 
government, the public school system, the American Bible Society, 
the American Tract Society, the American Sunday School Union, the 
Young People's Societies, the Missionary Societies, many, but not all, 
literary societies, and many of the business or commercial firms. 
These bodies are all instances of open organization. Many others 
of like character might be named as illustrating the open method. 
These and similar organizations may be known by personal or pub- 
lic investigation or study, and involve no secret vow, oath, pledge 
or obligation, and membership is not necessary to such study or 
investigation. Any one who wishes is free to study, investigate or 
learn about any open organization, without let, hinderance, objec- 
tion or protest. And without personal complication. This is charac- 
teristic of all open organizations. There are secrets, it is true, in 
all open bodies, but they are discretionary, incidental, and tempor- 
ary, and do not involve anything in the nature of a secret oath, vow 
or obligation. No secret pledge of any kind is ever a condition of 
membership in an open organization. 

The close organization is a Secret Society, consisting of the 
esoteric and the exoteric as permanent features in the organic form. 
The characteristic which distinguishes the close from the open form 
is the permanent nature of the secret department. No one but the 
member can legitimately enter the esoteric or inner realm, where 
secretism reigns. This realm may be very meager, but it is shut off 
from the world. The secret is sacred to the society. By the terms 
of membership, public investigation is impossible. Only "a 
renegade" or "a perjured villian" will disclose that which is to 
be hidden from the public view. This is called the esoteric, and is 
a permanent feature in the close organization, which says, "If you 
wish to know the inner workings of the secret order, join the soci- 
ety, and be duly initiated." The secret is the predominant feature. 
Both forms have secrets, but this is the difference: in the open 



Part 1: The Opening 15 



form, the secret is subordinate, temporary, discretionary; in the 
close form, the secret is predominant, permanent, necessary, vital, 
characteristic. The open can and often does exist without any 
secret. The close can not exist without the secret. If the close 
order abandon the inner, secret, or esoteric department, then it 
ceases to be secret society, and becomes an open organization. In 
an open order, though there may be an occasional secret, yet it has 
no secret department. Its secrets are subject to investigation, when 
demanded. The close order shuns publicity. As a rule all its stated 
meetings are in secret, open to none but actual or prospective mem- 
bers. Their open meetings are exceptional and are usually for dis- 
play. As illustrations of the close form of organization we have 
Masonry, Odd Fellowship, Sons of Temperance, the Grange, the 
Mollie McGuires, the Mafia, the Literati, the Grand Army, and a 
host of others, Major and Minor. 

An order can not be both open and close. This is impossible 
in the very nature of the case. An order is either open or close; 
the one or the other. The open may have temporary secrets. This 
does not make it a secret order. But the close order always has its 
secrets. However few these secrets may be, in some form, they 
are always present and permanent. When you have learned all you 
can, from the outside, of a secret order, there is still something 
back that you do not know. These secret things are known only to 
the members, each in his own degree. The nearest and dearest 
friend on earth may not know the things spoken in the ear in the 
secret realm of the secret lodge, tho' it may be of the most trifling 
or solemn import. You may go to every ramification of an open 
order, search it out to the bottom and top, and tell all you have 
seen and heard to the next friend, and meet no embargo, secret 
oath, vow, pledge or obligation and need not be a member. In an 
open order the members are always admitted openly; in a close 
order they are always initiated in secret; and by this means the 
Secret Lodge System separates its membership from the rest of man- 
kind. They are thus made distinct from others not on the basis of 
character, but by a secret ceremony. 

It is a delusion to suppose that by revealing the secrets of the 



16 The Secret Lodge System 

Secret System, we can check their extension, or abolish them. It is 
but an educating and advertising force. It but heightens their 
power and influence. They can easily and readily make slight and 
unimportant changes in their esoteric, by which the benefits may 
accrue alone to the membership. They can thus hold together and 
act in concert as a secret order. The growth of The Secret Lodge 
System has been unprecedented since the commencement of the pub- 
lication of their secret rituals. It is known to the writer that these 
exposes are bought largely by the orders, and used with slight 
changes, in committing the work. Others get these books, study 
them, and then join the lodges. The work carried on by a certain 
"Association" in this country is a fine advertisement for The Secret 
Lodge System. Thus the distinction is made clear between an open 
and a close order. There need be no confusion of mind. There can 
not, in the face of the foregoing discrimination, be any dispute or 
argument as to what is and what is not a secret society. No better 
definition of a secret order can be given than what is found in this 
section. Any one can easily tell where an order stands, whether it 
is secret or open. We have spent time on this point because we 
wish the difference distinct and clear. The secret order has per- 
manent secrets; the open order has no permanent secrets. The 
secret order can not be fully studied without membership complica- 
cation; the open order may be studied without becoming a member. 
The secret order involves a secret pledge or oath. The open order 
does not. 



CHAPTER III. — THE CONCESSION. 

In any argument there is no gain in denying a fact, or a series 
of facts. To concede the truth is always a gain. Otherwise the 
mind becomes confused, and the enemy gains an undue advantage. 
In itself considered, there is no sin in a secret. We may 
put sin into a secret. There is possibly a secret in every- 
thing. A secret is simply something not known. What is 
a secret to me, may not be so to some other person. God 



Part I: The Opening 17 

has his secrets. "Secret things belong unto the Lord." Every man 
has his secrets. No man knoweth the mind of a man but the man 
himself. Every family has its secrets or privacies. It would be an 
odd family that made known to the public all its internal affairs. 
Every church has its secrets. They are discretionary matters, and 
no bond obliges them to keep these privacies from the public. 
Every civil government has its secrets. They belong to its diplo- 
macy. Nature has her secrets. They exist in the very nature of 
the natural constitution. They are being brought to light by study, 
observation and invention as the ages evolve. We are not forbid- 
den to look into the mysteries of the book of nature. Christ had 
his secrets. Some things he did not tell his most intimate dis- 
ciples. It was best for them not to know. They may not have 
understood him, had he told them. Often he said, "Tell thou no 
man." Or, "It is not for you to know." He was speaking to the 
consciousness of his disciples, warning them and his followers not 
to misinterpret his character, motives or works. They must not 
think or say that because he said and did all these wonderful things 
that he was the temporal deliverer of Israel. This was the thought 
uppermost in the mind of the Jew, and the thing feared by the 
Romans. This thought Jesus always suppressed, "Tell no man" 
any such things as these. I am in no secret conspiracy against the 
Roman power. But the people always went out and boldly told what 
great things Christ had done for them. And he never rebuked any 
one for so doing. Their conduct was no violation of his command. 
Christ spake to the consciousness of his followers in this respect. 
They understood him and acted accordingly. Neither John the 
Baptist or Saint John ever belonged to the Secret Lodge System, in 
any sense. There is no veritable history to this effect. It is a 
trumped up tradition, reported for effect. We deny the whole aver- 
ment. Every true Christian has his divine secrets. They are the 
terms of relationship between him and God. "The secret of the 
Lord is with those who fear him." The Holy Bible has its secrets. 
They are the things intimated, but not necessary to be revealed. 
The Bible itself is not a mystery, as is the Secret Lodge System, 
but a revelation of the mystery of God. It is a contradiction in 



18 The Secret Lodge System 



terms to call the Holy Bible a Revelation of God to man, and then 
assert that it is a Mystery not to be understood, or only by the 
few. A thing can not be a mystery and a revelation at the same 
time any more than a system can be both open and close. Com- 
paratively there are mysteries in the Bible. They are comparative 
mysteries, not manufactured, artificial or permanent. The real 
mysteries are those outside of the Bible. They are things not re- 
vealed. Every thing in the Bible is for a purpose and has a mean- 
ing, and is to be understood by those who make the proper search, 
if there be sufficient capacity in the student. It is the same in the 
book of physical nature. The mysteries in the Bible are to those 
who lack the proper application or the ability, or capacity of un- 
derstanding. "The wayfaring man though a fool, shall not err 
therein." He may not know, but he shall, as an honest man, not 
be led into error through the revelation of God's will to men. Those 
who have not applied themselves to the open divine teaching, to 
them it is a mystery. The Bible is not a sealed book as is the 
Secret Lodge System. Those who openly apply themselves to the 
divine preceps and teaching make progress in divine knowledge. 
The mysteries of the Bible are comparative, and not organic and 
of constraint. The same is true of Orthography, Reading, Writing, 
Arithmetic, Grammar, History and the whole circle of human learn- 
ing. These departments are all secrets to those who have never 
studied these branches. So the Bible is a mystery to those who 
have not studied it. But the Bible is an open book. There is no 
embargo or restraint on its study, practice or benefits. There is 
no sin in a normal secret, unless we put sin into it. This is appar- 
ent on the very face of the question. The facts here stated are 
made the basis, the excuse and the justification of the whole Secret 
Lodge System. The argument is plausible, but not valid. We shall 
see. There is a vast difference between a secret, and a system 
founded on a secret or series of secrets. 



CHAPTER IV — TWO CLASSES, OR, THE DISCRIMINATION. 

Secrets vary in kind, character, revelation and use. Secrets 



Part I: The Opening 19 



are natural or artificial; normal or abnormal; relative or absolute; 
legitimate or illegitimate; voluntary or constrained; compara- 
tive or complete; manufactured or real; of a good, evil 
or doubtful character; and they are put to all kinds 
of uses. We can never come to any just conclusion, un- 
less we first learn to make proper discriminations. The leading 
distinction is that of natural and artificial secrets, as of sound and 
counterfeit money, as the difference between a man and a manikin. 
Natural secrets are those which exist in the natural order of the 
universe. No man by searching can fully find out God. This con- 
dition comes from the infinitude of the character of God, and the 
finite character of man. Many of the mysteries of nature are hid- 
den from our view, because, as yet, we have not searched them out. 
Many things that Christ said to his hearers were mysteries to them 
because their minds were not sufficiently developed to comprehend 
his meaning. To the man who has given no attention to geometry, 
the whole science is a mystery. This is natural. The Greek is 
a comparative mystery to the man who has never studied this 
language. The appearance of the air, of electricity, of heat, cold, 
sound are mysteries to the human vision. We do not know how 
these things appear. The relative secret is one that may appear to 
me and not to another. I can see the stars, but the blind man can 
not. An absolute secret is one that no person can know, as how it 
appears at the center of the earth. Thus far in the history of man, 
the north and south poles have held absolute mysteries from man. 
The ice barriers have intervened. To hide my purse from the thief, 
and my person from the murderer, are legitimate secrets; a con- 
spiracy of any kind is illegitimate. A voluntary secret is one that 
my conscience and better judgment induce me to keep, a constrained 
secret is one imposed upon me by compulsion, or one the nature 
or consequences of which I do not fully understand at the time, 
but am obliged under severe penalties to keep. A comparative 
secret is one that I partially know; a complete secret is one about 
which I know nothing. An artificial, manufactured or abnormal 
secret is one made up, devised or designed by the ingenuity of man 
for a special purpose. I may use certain intonations of voice, 



20 The Secret Lodge System 



gestures, words, attitudes, signs, grips, tokens, pictures and ex- 
pressions, and then affix to these arbitrary meanings, and thus form 
a system of communication between myself and those only who 
have been let into my meaning of these things. This, then be- 
comes a secret language to us. These are artificial, abnormal, man- 
ufactured secrets. They may be used for any purpose, good or evil, 
but are rarely used to subserve useful ends. These abnormal se- 
crets are the basis of the whole Secret Lodge System. And while 
the system does many good things, it is nearly always abused to 
accomplish evil ends. The good that the System does do, is vitiated 
by the modus operandi; and might be far better accomplished by 
open forms of operation. The Secret System is most easily pros- 
tituted to the basest ends. The tendency is to degenerate. It is 
the method invariably used by villians to accomplish their base 
purpose, and is therefore to be discarded by all men. I here 
speak not of the legitimate secret in itself considered, but of the 
orgainzed form of the abnormal or manufactured series 
of secrets constituting the Secret Lodge System. The reason for 
this attitude will be farther amplified as we proceed. 






CHAPTER V. — THE OPPOSITES. 

The open and close, the natural and artificial in organization 
are opposites. They are diverse in character, form, methods of 
operation and tendencies. They are essentially different. They can 
not coincide or harmonize. They are constantly and essen- 
tially actually at war, or lying on tehir arms ready for 
the contest. They stand on different bases. Their methods 
are at variance. Different elements and motives prompt 
to action. The open method works in the day light and 
appeals to judgment, understanding, reason and conviction. 
The Secret Lodge System walks in darkness, treads stealthily, makes 
indirect approaches, uses the hidden hand, marks its pathway with 
secret signs, grips, pass words, vows and appeals to men's fears, 
weakness and selfishness. The one or the other will triumph. 



Part I: The Opening 21 



Both can not control the field. When day comes darkness disap- 
pears. When night drops down its dusky wings on the hills and 
the valleys, day vanishes. When war comes, peace flees. When 
peace triumphs, then war puts by its armor. When the sun shines 
dimly from the south, winter reigns in the north. When the sun 
warms the breezes from the south, the rills are unbound, the earth 
is softened, and the buds put forth. We cannot have summer and 
winter at the same place, at the same time. They are the con- 
verse of each other. So a man, a family, a church, a society, a 
civil government can not be open an close, public and secret at the 
same time. "No man can serve two masters." The one or the 
other will predominate. If "The Secret Lodge System" prevails, 
then open dealing will be only a matter of sufferance. The only 
solution of open, honest, fair dealing is in the abandonment and 
abolition of the Secret System. The only solution of darkness is 
light; of ignorance, knowledge; of weakness, strength; of slavery, 
abolition; of vice, absolute prohibition; of Jesuitism, its banishment. 



CHAPTER VI. — THE BASIS OF CHOICE. 

Why shall we choose the open method of work, and discard 
the whole Secret Lodge System? This is a vital question. It de- 
serves the most careful consideration. Since they are diverse, and 
are antagonisms, and can not co-operate and harmonize, both can 
not be right. How shall we determine? The only answer is on 
the basis of truth. 1. The open method is of God. This is mani- 
fest in many ways. 1) God has revealed himself to all men by 
his Holy Spirit, without respect to age, or race, or condition in life. 
"He is that light that lighteth every man." He has called all men 
from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. A measure 
of faith, of spirit, is given to every man to profit withal. All are 
without excuse. He regards the halt, the blind, the lame, the deaf. 
He turns away from none. All are his children. His face is open 
to all his creatures. 2) The Holy Bible is an open book. It is a 
Revelation. It is not a secret system. Its pages are open to all 



22 The Secret Lodge System 



men. God puts no barrier in the way of its study. No secret 
vow, pledge or obligation is imposed as a condition of its study 
or of enjoying its benefits. 3) Nature is an open book to all man- 
kind. All who will, may read. No one is hindered. "The heavens 
declare the glory of God. The nineteenth psalm is an eloquent 
tribute to the book of Nature and to the Written word of God. 
4) The Family is an open organization. The family is not a 
secret society. No secret signs, grips, pass words or obligations 
are necessary to enter the portals of the home, and enjoy its hos- 
pitalities. The rap that all men know is all sufficient to introduce 
any one to the home. The ceremony of marriage is open and pub- 
lic, and involves no secret oath, promise or obligation. 5) The 
Church is no secret society. It is as open as the sunlight of heaven. 
Its organization, doctrine, discipline, reception of members, and 
forms of worship, are published in full and exhibited publicly be- 
fore the world. Its members are admitted to fellowship in the open 
gaze of the public assembly. There is no essential element of or- 
ganized secretism, in any way, connected with the Church of Christ. 
The Church is of the day, and not of the night. 6) The civil govern- 
ment is not a secret society. It is open in its form of organiza- 
tion. Its organization was effected in a public assembly. Its laws 
were discussed and passed under the gaze and in the hearing of 
the throng. The civil judges sit and decide in open court. The 
executive officers vindicate and enforce the laws before the eyes 
of the pople. The citizens go openly to the polls and deposit their 
votes in the open poling place, and may, if they wish, tell the can- 
didates for whom they cast their ballots. The civil enactments are 
published by the government and all who wish may have access to 
these records. Publicity is one of the essential elements of the 
civil government. In a well regulated civil form of government 
there is no Star Chamber Court. All the organizations referred to 
above are ordained of God. They are all open and there is not a 
secret conclave among them. They are illustrations of the forms 
we should follow. 7) There is no example or authority in the word 
of God, in nature or in reason for the organization of a Secret 
Lodge. History and experience are against the whole Secret Lodge 



Part I: The Opening 23 



System. All the examples above are against the secret order, and 
favor in their form the open organization. Thus it is seen that the 
constitution of the individual, the operation of the Holy Spirit, 
the Christian home, the Church of Jesus Christ, all condemn the 
Secret Lodge System. They are all ordained of God and favor, illus- 
trate and enforce the open method. Therefore we conclude that 
the open form is of God. It is the divine method of accomplishing 
his purposes. All those who follow the Secret Lodge System are 
running counter to the Divine order of the Great Architect of the 
Universe. They are acting in contravention of one of his primal 
laws, which is that of publicity. The conclusion is, therefore, in- 
evitable that the Divine order is the open method of organization. 
8) Another reason for rejecting the close method is, that it is of 
Satan. There is no instance in the Bible, in Providence, or in 
Nature where God ever organized a secret lodge. This being the 
fact the lodge must therefore be a device of Satan, and is of very 
ancient origin and of wide spread existence. The Secret Lodge very 
evidently arose at the time of the revolt of the angels from God 
under the leadership of Lucifer. It is not reasonable to suppose 
that Satan undertook to openly organize this revolt against God. 
Secret societies are not organized in that way now. They are de- 
vised in secret. They are organized in secret meetings. They con- 
vene in secret places. They do their work secretly. This is charac- 
teristic of the Secret Lodge. By a parity of reasoning we conclude 
that Satan began his work stealthily, quietly, cunningly, adroitly, 
secretly. It is irrational to suppose that one so eminent, so wise, 
so discreet, so cunning, so daring as Satan would commence his 
work any other way than by organizing in secret. He worked 
stealthily and guardedly at first. He approached those first whom 
he could most trust, and drew them into his toil, and put them 
under the most solemn obligations of secrecy. He and his have 
been working in this way ever since. It was only after he was 
able by his myriads of followers, to make a vast and impressible 
showing that he made public his determination to defy God. Then 
there was war of words in heaven. No, No, Satan began his in- 
famous work insidiously, clandestinely, insinuating, artfully, care- 



24 The Secret Lodge System 

fully, cautiously, secretly, just as the Secret Lodge System works 
now, and always has worked. Satan did not sound a trumpet be- 
fore him, and make public harangues to enlist followers. It was 
a dark Satanic scheme, devised in the dark. In the day light he 
would have had no showing. In the outcome of this contest Satan 
and his adherents were cast out into the darkness of this earth be- 
fore the sun broke the dismal gloom. Satan has worked in dark- 
ness ever since. He claims this realm. He was on hand when the 
morning stars sang together. He heard the sons of God shout with 
joy with a diabolical laughter, knowing what sad havoc he could 
make of their high hopes. He entered clandestinely into the 
Nachash and met Eve alone in the garden. He won her over and 
initiated her into the secrets, and trusted to her to initiate Adam. 
They began at once to manufacture the regalia, and when the voice 
of God walked next time in the garden, they had the apron, and a 
secret lodge among the trees. Cain clandestinely enticed his brother 
Abel to the fields, secretly murdered him, and secretly hid him in 
the ground. But God heard the voice of Abel's blood. The Secret 
Lodge System is not only very ancient, but it is wide spread. It is 
found among all nations, ancient and modern, civilized and savage. 
The heathen nations had the mysteries in their religions, and men 
who did not coincide with their views on secretism were ostracised 
just as they are now. In about the eighth century after Christ, 
China was overran with the Christian religion, but the Secret Lodge 
System wiped it out and China became a closed nation for many 
centuries. It is said at this time there are more secret societies 
in China, than any nation on the face of the globe, unless it be the 
United States of America. The Boxer uprising in China was ani- 
mated by a secret society. Evidently Solomon was deeply involved 
in the mysteries, and was no doubt a master in the system. Solomon 
though wise and great, was a tyrant in civil government, a libertine 
in social life, and an idolater in religion. His Proverbs are excel- 
lent, but his example is not to be followed by any man. There are 
indications that secret lodges existed in the days of Christ. There 
were suspicions that Jesus and his disciples were in a secret league 
to overturn the Roman power in Palastine. But Christ disavows 



Part I: The Opening 25 

this charge. He emphatically affirms that he was in no such affilia- 
tion. Christ never organized a secret lodge, nor did he ever be- 
long to any secret society. He spake and acted openly. He said 
nothing in secret that he was not willing to avow openly. He so 
testifies on his trial. Christ is separate from the Secret Lodge Sys- 
tem. So were his followers, except Judas, Annanis and Sapphira. 
They tried to introduce the lodge into the Church. No one can be 
a true Christian and hold fellowship in any secret lodge, major or 
minor. The association is contrary to the spirit, teaching, and ex- 
ample of the Gospel of Christ. We are to come out from among 
them and be separate. We are not to be unequally yoked together 
with unbelievers, in marriage, business, or in secret associations 
or intimate relations in social life. It is even a shame to speak 
together of the disgraceful things done of them in secret. "My soul 
come thou not into their secret." In their rage they murdered a 
man. Blood is on their hands. The Secret Lodge System is Satan's 
Empire. It is not of God. All the evidences are that it is of Satan. 
This system is "the mystery of iniquity" spoken of by Paul in his 
second letter to the Thessalonians. This has puzzled many com- 
mentatores. "The mystery of iniquity" is the converse of "the 
mystery in Godliness." The mystery of iniquity is of Satan. No 
description is adequate to the elucidation of this mystery of iniquity 
except the Sercet Lodge System. This fits the character exactly. 
It is an abnormal, an artificial, a manufactured mystery, and its 
pathway is strewn with blood, and all iniquity. "The man of sin" 
is the unconverted, unregenerate, unsanctified, carnal, wordly man 
imposed on the Church, and upheld in the Church as a full mem- 
ber, which is effected through the secret manipulations of "the 
mystery of iniquity" or the Secret Lodge System. Then this carnal 
Church member or "man of sin," through this same secret influence, 
is promoted to positions of honor, enrollment, influence and 
trust, while the worthy and spiritual man is put in the back ground. 
The reason of this is that "the man of sin" or carnal, worldly 
Church member can be depended upon to be subservient to the 
dictates of the Secret Lodge System. Thus everything in the nomi- 
nal Church of Christ is corrupted, defiled and degraded. We see 



26 The Secret Lodge System 



the effect upon the Churches in this day. The lodge system is not 
of God. It is too infamous to be of man, therefore, it is of Satan. 
It extends wherever his realm is found. It clothes itself as an 
angel of light and descends to the depths of Baalzebub, the god of 
filth or flies. It ascends to the borders of heaven, and descends 
to tartarous or the lowest hell. It assumes to sit in the seat of God, 
and rules in the realm of darkness. It has the sanctity of the Scribes 
and Pharisees, and the bloody heartlessness of the Thugs of India, 
who gave one third of their plunder and robbery to the goddess 
they worshipped. 



CHAPTER VII. — THE MAJOR ORDERS. 

The two leading secret orders in the world are Jesuitism and 
Masonry. All other secret orders are children or relatives of these 
noted orders. They are identical in form of organization, being 
close or secret. They are similar in elemental character, animus 
and methods. They are world wide in influence. These two orders 
are satanic masterpieces. They do not hesitate to do evil that good 
or advantage may come to the orders. Masonry is Protestant Jesuit- 
ism; and Jesuitism is Roman Catholic Masonry. They are both 
Machiavelianism. Their principles and practices are artifice and 
cunning intended to promote and uphold arbitrary power. They 
may appear to antagonize each other, and do so as rivals, but where 
their interests coincide, they are at peace and co-operate. They are 
children of the same father, and belong to the same family. The 
time is doubtless coming when they will be departments in the 
same league, and become sympathetic and co-operative. The pur- 
pose of Masonry and Jesuitism is a universal religion, and a uni- 
versal empire. Both of necessity must be on a false basis, that of 
the close form of organization. The Secret Lodge System forms 
satan's great and universal church of false religion in antagonism 
to and contravention of the true and divine church of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. We conclude then that while the Bible, the Home, 
the Church and the State are of God, the whole Secret Lodge Sys- 



Part I: The Opening 27 

tern is of Satan. To be in line, therefore, with God and truth and 
righteousness, we must choose God and his doctrine and method 
of work, involving openness, frankness, and honesty, and entirely 
discard the whole Secret Lodge System. 



CHAPTER VIII. — THE EFFECT. 

What is the effect of my joining a secret Lodge? 1. I give up 
my personal freedom into the hands of an irresponsible party, that 
may at any time demand of me that which is against my judgment, 
my conviction and my conscience. 2. It puts up a barrier of sepa- 
ration between me, my family and my friends who are outside of 
the Lodge. 3. It demands mind, time, money and influence that 
rightly belong to other interests, for if a man attends to his personal 
duties, his duty to his family, his fellow men, his church, his state 
government and to his God, he has no time or money to devote to 
the frivolities, and the debasements of the secret lodge. 4. It takes 
away an undue amount of time, money, attention and influence 
from the Church, which is of infinite importance above all the secret 
lodges in the world. 5. It interferes with my duties as a citizen, 
for the oath of the lodge, when the issues meet, contravenes my oath 
as a citizen. 6. It compels me as a Christian to give preference to 
the lodge members, instead of my Christian brother, in direct viola- 
tion of God's word. 7. It obliges me to subordinate Christ to the 
interests of the secret lodge. This is done in several ways. I am, 
first, going into a form of organization which Christ does not ap- 
prove, working in secret and under disguise and under cover, and 
not openly. Second, I choose associations Christ forbids, and de- 
mands me to "come out from among them." Third, it obliges me 
to give Christ a secondary place. The lodge and its methods, aims 
and purposes are primary. Christ and all pertaining to him are 
secondary. I am not asked to deny Christ, or any form of religion 
I may avow. But I must adopt the religion of the lodge "in which 
all men agree." The Lodge System, some say, denies Christ. This 
is a mistake. I may take Christ into the lodge, but I must make 



28 The Secret Lodge System 



him secondary and subordinate. He must take a back seat, and not 
come to the front, if any one in the lodge objects. In universal 
Masonry, consisting of the first three degrees, Entered Apprentice, 
Fellow Craft and Master Mason Christ is not known. In these 
primal degrees of Mansonry Christ is simply eliminated, dropped 
out, put in obscuration, or given a secondary or subordinate place, 
because, as some say, Masonry is older than Christ, thus denying, 
in substance, the essential divinity of Christ, in which respect there 
is nothing older than Christ, who is from all eternity. The real 
reason is to adapt Masonry to all countries and to all religions, 
and unite, accommodationally, without any change of character or 
religion, all races in one common brotherhood. It contemplates 
unity and control without conversion or reformation. Farther on in 
Masonary, in order to adapt it to Christian nations in the Templar 
degrees, Christ is introduced and recognized, and members are 
pledged to even fight with the sword to defend Christ, a thing which 
Christ forbids. Thus, while with one hand they own Christ, with the 
other they deny him, putting their own doctrine in place of the 
doctrine of Christ, thus subordinating Christ, or giving him a 
secondary or subordinate place. All the degrees of Masonry except 
the first three are subordinate, accommodational, or aristocratic, 
though in some respects the upper degrees are more pow- 
erful, yet they are not essential to Masonry. But in the 
ultimate, in the whole Secret Lodge System, when it comes 
to the last test, Christ is simply a subordinate char- 
acter. Even in Jesuitism, the Roman Catholic "Church" or system 
of religion, a corrupted form of Christianity, is made primary, the 
character, doctrine, form of organization, and practice of Christ 
are made secondary and subordinate. It is the system of Roman 
Catholicism first, then Christ afterward. So the Jesuit will do any- 
thing, lie, deceive, defraud, murder, to maintain that system of reli- 
gion. Christ and his doctrine are subordinate. This predominance 
over everything else is characteristic of . the entire Secret Lodge 
System. Its construction bears this impress upon its very face. It 
is dark visaged and cruel in its very countenance. There is a 
Masonic mien. Fourth, I am required to subordinate Christ in 



Part I: The Opening 29 



another way. I am obliged to prefer my lodge brother before my 
Christian brother who is to have the first place in my affections, 
associations and preferences. Thus the lodge emasculates the whole 
Christian System. This accounts for the effeminacy of the present 
day Christianity. The lodge system is taking the original virility 
out of the true Christianity, giving us a soft, unmanly form of reli- 
gion. This also accounts for so many men prefering the Lodge to 
the Church. Many men, most men, want Christ and his salvation, 
in the end, but many men want Christ in a subordinate place. In 
this respect the Lodge suits these men. The Church usually makes 
Christ preeminent, and this does not suit many business men. The 
Lodge gives Christ the place that suits these men in their personal 
and business lines. All the Lodges want Christ, but he must take 
a back seat, and not speak or be spoken about if there is any one, 
as a Jew, an infidel, a deist, or other unbeliever, who would object to 
or be offended by the use of the name of Christ. To affirm that 
Masons as a system deny Christ, shows that the objector has no 
adequate idea of the system of Masonary. Masonary simply denies 
to Christ the right to speak or to be named in their sittings, 
unless it suits the convenience and make up of the lodge. The 
lodge subordinates Christ to its ends, its purposes, its conveniences. 
Masonary is preeminent. The individual, the home, the Church of 
Christ, the civil governmnet, and all other institutions and organiza- 
tions are secondary and subordinate. They are organized, trained, 
drilled and armed to make this good. All the things indicated 
above are to be utilized to accomplish the end. 



CHAPTER IX. — THE ULTIMATUM. 

The dream of Masonary and of Roman Catholicism is a univer- 
sal religion and a universal empire; and these things are to be 
brought about peaceably, if possible, otherwise if necessary, but 
not by the propagation of the truth as it is in Christ, but by secret, 
organic manipulation, and the propagation of definite forms and 
usages. Submit or be condemned to ostracism, financial ruin, tor- 



30 The Secret Lodge System 



ture and death. These things have been amply demonstrated in the 
life and death of Christ, in the death of the Martyrs, and in the 
death of the Captain Morgans. How does all this comport with the 
life and teaching of Christ, with the common humanity, and with 
the assurance at the lodge room door, that "you will find nothing 
in here to interfere with your duty to yourself, your family, your 
Church, your country or your God." An amazing assurance! Then 
why make a secret system of the thing? It is an antecedent, false- 
hood, a deception, a decoy to entrap innocent souls. I, therefore, 
conclude that no one can be a true Christian, an undoubted and 
faithful parent in the family, a worthy member in the Christian 
Church, or a true and trusted citizen of his country, if he be in 
any way affiliated, in sympathy or association, with the Secret Lodge 
System. This is amply demonstrated in the foregoing presenta- 
tions and will be more amply demonstrated in what follows. The 
entire abolition of the System is demanded. Modifications, correc- 
tions and milder forms are out of the question, as will be mani- 
fest in the farther discussion. What God, and nature, and reason, 
and experience have given us in form and character and commend- 
able results are all sufficient, without those which every rational 
consideration debars. 



CHAPTER X. — MAJOR AND MINOR. 

Some years ago we heard much about the necessity and impor- 
tance of a discrimination between the major and the minor secret 
orders. Men stoutly insisted that we must discriminate, that it 
was unjust not to do so, that we must not condemn all these secret 
orders in one breath, that it was unwise and impolite to do so, 
that all these orders were not equally bad, that some of them are 
comparatively innocent, that some of them are very innocent, and 
that really some of the Minor orders are very good, and that it is 
very unjust to condemn them all indiscriminately. Thus without 
any argument these men sympathetically begged the whole question. 
Is poison harmless because it is diluted and sweetened to tempt the 



Part I: The Opening 31 



taste? Enough will kill, though a little will sometimes cure, but 
the poison must not predominate, as the secret does in all secret 
lodges. Certainly there is a difference between the different secret 
orders. Any one with ordinary common sense knows this fact. But 
these secret lodges are all invariably based upon the same element 
of organized secretism. Openness is incidental and subordinate; 
secretism is essential. All normal homes and Churches are based 
upon the elements of organic openness, frankness, honesty, truth 
and right, as defined in a former chapter. These are the characteris- 
tic distinctions and the differences. The home, the Church, the state 
as diverse in essential character from the secret lodges, belong to 
different systems and forms of organization. The Secret Lodge 
System uses the Bible as a mere bait in Christian Countries; the 
Koran in Mohammedan countries; Confucius among the Chinese 
and their adherents; the Shastra among Hindoos; and the book 
of Mormon in Utah. The Secret Lodge System is accommodational. 
The true Christian Church uses the Holy Bible always and every- 
where, in all countries and among all peoples. 

The difference between the major and the minor secret orders 
is as the difference between pure poison, and poison highly diluted. 
Enough of either will kill. It is as the difference between mist 
invisible, steam, clouds, fog, rain, snow, ice, the well, the spring, 
the trickling streamlet, the majestic river, the lake, the bay and 
the mighty ocean. They are all water, composed of the same 
elements, and may be combined with foreign substances. The dif- 
ference is in relation, locality, quantity, and condition. Enough 
will drown, or freeze or choke a man, and is very useful in its 
place, in a subordinate place, just as is the secret, but when water 
predominates, it is very dangerous and destructive. Just so is it 
with secretism, organized and predominant, as it is in all secret 
organizations, major and minor. All secret lodges, orders or socie- 
ties are based upon the same element of organized secretism. This 
gives color, character and animus to every one of them. They all 
belong to the same class by distinguishing characteristics, which 
are the secret oath, vow, promise, pledge of honor or obligation, 
and by which they work under cover, in the dark, clandestinely, 



32 The Secret Lodge System 



in secret, in the shadows, and accomplish their purposes in these 
indirect and sinister ways, all of which are directly opposed to the 
openness, frankness, fairness, freedom and honesty represented by 
truth and righteousness in the open methods of work. The whole 
Secret Lodge System, composed of the major and minor orders, are 
all of a similar predominant character. The system belongs to the 
realm of darkness. The light in a measure shines into them, but 
there are nooks and chinks, and reserves where the light of day 
never falls, where the rays of the sun never gleam. The system is 
the reverse of the realm of light and truth and righteousness as 
set forth in the word, the works and the Church of the living God. 
The use of the Holy Bible in the lodges is for effect, and not that 
they intend to follow its precepts, only at their convience. There 
is a threefold cord of unity, and identity running through all the 
Churches of God in the world. This cord is, first, Christ the head 
and the interpenetrating Spirit; second, the Holy Bible as the writ- 
ten Divine Revelation, the Text Book of Doctrine, Discipline, Ex- 
perience, and Rule of Practice; third, openness in the form or or- 
ganization. There is thus a network of Christian Churches in the 
world, differing in many respects outwardly, but in sympathetic 
unity and harmony, along these three lines — Christ, the Bible, open 
organization. They do not need the sword to exhibit, defend or 
progate any of these characteristics. On the other hand the 
Secret Lodge System is a network of secret orders, interlocking 
with each other, extending over the whole world, existing from time 
immemorial, of various secret regimes, different in many respects, 
externally and internally, but sympathetically and organically allied 
in this that many of the different orders, so that a single control 
runs through them all; they are all based on organic secretism; 
they all work behind screens and closed doors in a hidden manner, 
they move with a stealthy tread as the wild red man of the forest; 
they strike you with a deft unseen hand; they reach their end by 
any means. These secret orders are all allied. They belong to 
the same system. They are all identified by the same marks. They 
all have the same brand of the same Master. They are all of the 
same origin. They vary in age, size, density, color, sex and 



Part I: The Opening 33 



strength, but they all belong to the same family. They are simply 
major and minor. This is all as it relates to characteristic differ- 
ences. They grade down from the ancient mythological mysteries, 
through Jesuitism, Thugism, Russianism, Mafiaism, Masonary, Odd 
Fellowship, through the whole list, to the latest and most apparently 
innocent form. They are a network, interlock and are affiliated, and 
sympathetic at the base and in spirit. One day a small boy was found 
by his mother, with a club in his hands among a flock of goslings, 
striking right and left, killing the young geese. He was stopped, 
taken to task and asked why he was killing mother's goslings. 
His answer was that, "that there big gander chased, caught, bit 
and flopped me yesterday." But the mother replied, "My dear boy, 
what has that to do with my dear little goslings?" The boy grumly 
replied, "You let these goslings go, and they will all be big cross 
ganders after while." That boy was a philosopher, and had more 
common sense than some college professors who coddle and court, 
connive at, and apologize for the minor secret orders. A gosling 
is but a young goose. The boy who steals a penny, if left go on in 
that course, will by and by, steal a pound. If you want geese, raise 
goslings. If you want majors, breed the minors. The germ of 
the giant oak lies in the acorn hidden among the leaves of the 
forest. The destructive flood that sweeps the valley and destroys 
towns and cities lies in the trickling stream that flows over the 
breast of the dam. "Despise not the day of small things," though 
they be good or evil. Cherish the good, discard the evil. Some 
years ago I was conversing with a Mason in Marion, Ohio, on the 
subject of secret societies in connection with a certain religious 
denomination. He said I have no confidence in that Church as to 
its oppositions to Masonary. Formerly I thought they were sincere, 
but I have recently discovered that their opposition is a matter 
of mere policy, not actuated by principle at all. "I am a Mason," 
he said, and believe in Masonary. Sometime since one of the minor 
secret temperance societies was started in this town. After some 
months, I went up and joined and to my utter surprise, I found 
the leading members in that Church in the order. "Fighting Mason- 
ary and then joining a secret temperance order. It is inconsistent. 



S4 The Secret Lodge System 



There is no principle in it. It is a mere policy. I have no confi- 
dence in such a Church. These orders are all based on the same 
principle. If one is right they are all right. If one is wrong, they 
are all wrong." This was the substance of what Mr. Dumble said. 
And he was right. He understood himself. A wrong method does 
not become right by exposing a good cause. You may have a hun- 
dred rings of different sizes and material, but they all agree in one 
particular, they are all circular, and they may be used for a hundred 
different purposes, but they will only fit circular objects. So you 
may have a multiplicity of secret societies of different material or 
persons, of different ages and for as many various purposes, they 
all agree in one thing; they are based on organic secretism. They 
are all secret societies. The size, material, age and uses do not 
change their essential organic character. Softening down clay to 
a flowing state does not change its essential characteristics. It 
is still clay. So you may have a hundred or a thousand, more or 
less, of secret societies, grading down from the fraternal college 
order, or national Grange, through all grades and stages, to the 
Italian Mafia, the Miner's Molly McGuires, the Klu-Klux-Klan, the 
Thugs of India, and the secret empire now trying to subvert the 
Russian civil government, and they all have the secret tie, the dis- 
tinguishing characteristic which very distinctly classes them with 
the Secret Lodge System. The man lacks mental penetration who 
does not see this fact; and he who sees and knows this indentity, 
and denies it is dishonest. I am not now speaking of the reputa- 
tion of the men in these lodges, or of what they do, or do not do. I 
am not speaking of secrets in the abstract, existing in all the realms 
of nature, nor of secrets in the concrete as applied in a subordi- 
nate incidental, or temporary sense in the individual, the home the 
Church, the state, in education, social or business life. None of 
these. For they all have their legitimate secrets. I am not now 
speaking of a secret in itself considered. In this regard I have 
said, distinctly said, that there is no sin in a secret unless you put 
sin in it. But I am speaking of a system. The Secret Lodge Sys- 
tem, a system of secrets in an organized form, in which it takes 
scores, or hundreds or thousands of men bound together under the 



Part I: The Opening 35 

strongest ties to keep the secret, and where the series of secrets 
in some form, are made a permanent part of the order. There is 
a vast difference between a natural, personal, or incidental secret, 
and a Secret Combination. "Let not thy left hand know what thy 
right hand doeth" is a personal secret. It takes but one person 
to keep this secret. This is a caution against making a vain dis- 
play or show of our gifts to the needy. It does not forbid the 
recipient from making the gift known to the public. But in the 
lodge it requires all the members to keep the secret, and none of 
them are of a benevolent character, but pertain to the form of the 
organization. The secrets of the lodge are of a selfish nature, so ar- 
ranged that they may bestow their favors on their own. As a rule, 
the Secret Lodge System rejects all objects of charity or such as 
are likely to become so. Some of the minor orders admit women 
and children, but the major orders admit them only in the side 
degrees. A secret and secretism are two very dissimilar things. 
A secret is simply a thing not known. Secretism is a system of 
secrets in an organized form among rational beings. Secretism is 
always composed of two or more persons. The Secret Lodge Sys- 
tem comprises all secret orders, major and minor. A standing ob- 
jection against the Secret Lodge System is that it is secret, in a 
combined form as a permanent characteristic. The same objec- 
tion lies against all secret orders of all kinds, and for every pur- 
pose whatever. They are dangerous in society, easily liable to 
the worst abuses. They are clandestine and unfair in their manner 
of work. Being hidden from public investigation, they are not 
subject to the restraints of public opinion, public investigation. 
Neither Church influences nor civil law can reach them. They sup- 
press the convictions and expressions of their own members. They 
easily degenerate, and are liable to the worst abuses, and to be 
used for the most evil purposes. They arbitrarily divide society, 
tend to promote unscrupulous men, and create antagonisms and 
suspicions in society. Their tendency is to discard true merit in 
those outside of the lodge, and promote the members of the lodge 
even where equal merit is wanting. They engender class distinc- 
tions, strifes, strikes and wars. They are a secret conspiracy of the 



56 The Secret Lodge System 



strong against the weak, and against all those who are not mem- 
bers of the system. They separate between a man and his family, 
interfere with a man in his duties in the Church, and interfere 
with the full exercise of a free citizenship in the civil government. 
They abrogate and discard the Divine order of the universe by 
working and walking in darkness instead of Light. They are a 
form that good men do not need, and that bad men always abuse 
to evil purposes. It is not pretended that the Secret Lodge Sys- 
tem never does any good. But the good they do could be better 
done in the open day light and not behind closed doors, in hidden 
recesses, and with a gloved hand. The secret clan is the method 
always chosen by bad men to accomplish an evil purpose. The 
Secret Lodge System is peculiarly adapted to that which is doubt- 
ful, dastardly, dangerous, deceitful, dark and devilish. Secretism 
is therefore always to be discarded. "Come out from among them 
and be ye separate" from all secret associations. They are not of 
God, nor of the Truth. They are all an abnormal state or condi- 
tion of society. The evil far overbalances the good. Ultimately 
they are injurious to the individual, the home, the Church, the 
state government, to general business and to society in the aggre- 
gate. The proper thing to do is for all persons to entirely abandon 
the whole Secret Lodge System, and for all the Churches, and the 
civil government to prohibit their existence and organization. It 
is the only safe thing to do. 



CHAPTER XI. — A RUINOUS BASIS. 

The center of gravity must fall within the base, if a building 
is to stand. This is a principle in natural science. A ship that is 
lopsided from any cause will go over in the storm. Nature always 
seeks an equilibrium. A table can not stand on but one leg. Some 
animals have two lower limbs, others four. Most trees have the 
tap-root, but they all have other roots besides. In most, if not 
all things, there is a trinity. There are the Father, Son and Holy 
Spirit. There are Heaven, Earth and Hell. In man we have body, 



Part I: The Opening 37 



mind and soul. As to life we have animal life, vegetable life and 
spirit life. It is a dangerous thing to base a system on a single 
predominating element. Such a course will always lead to disas- 
trous or mischievous results. Of course paramount issues often 
arise, and must be urged till a just balance is secured. But par- 
amountcy can not be permanent only in God, truth, righteousness 
and equity, and immortality. But even here there is seen complex- 
ity and variety, and equilibrium, and completeness. More than this, 
among none of these things is any one pre-eminent and paramount, 
or antagonistic. Most of the systems in vogue, have some one 
point predominant and all else subordinate. This is a point of 
great value and interest, and so far as the author knows is new in 
the presentation and admits of careful amplification. 

1. Freedom is an element in human nature, and in all animal 
life. It is also an element in actual life. But freedom without any 
restraint is simply anarchy. It will not do to organize a govern- 
ment with absolute freedom. It would run to ruin. Freedom though 
right in itself must have the restraint. 

2. Religion is ordained of God, and is elemental in every 
human being. If religion as a system of worship alone predom- 
inated a man's life, he becomes useless and insane, and will run 
to all extremes of fanaticism and superstition. We are cautioned 
in the word of truth against being too religious. Life demands 
equilibrium. 

3. The relation of the sexes is ordained of God, and is im- 
bedded in the nature of man and woman, and in all other animals 
and in plants. Suppose we make this element predominant and or- 
ganic and we have the scandals of the ancient mysteries, polyandry, 
polygamy, lestiality, all forms of uncleanness, Mohammedism, and 
Mormonism as forms of religion. There must be restraint in the 
sex passion. We dare not make it a single and predominant issue. 
If we do we will have not only the above evils, but also adultery, 
fornication, and the clandestine or legalized house of ill-fame, 
and every form of the grossest sensuality, as exhibited in Paul's 
first letter to the Romans, and in Rollin's and other ancient his- 
tories. 



38 The Secret Lodge System 



4. Service and labor are divine elements in the economy of 
of the universe. They stand in reason, righteousness and necessity. 
We must all render and receive service. But if we take out this 
single principle of service and base upon it a system and an orga- 
nization, as has been done in the past, making all else subordi- 
nate, and servitude paramount, then we have the accursed system 
of slavery of the ancient nations; the serfdom of Russia; the slave 
trade of the British Empire and of other eastern nations; the slave 
system of Brazil; and the infamous slave system of the United 
States of America, that cost us the bloody war, of 1861-1865. So 
much for building a system on a single issue without the proper 
balance. 

5. Liberality is a divine law, and belongs to the Christian 
System. Suppose we take this element out from proper relations 
and connections, make it pre-eminent and found a system upon it, 
making every other thing subordinate. The result will be disas- 
trous. We have an illustration in the divine records found in 
Acts 2:37-47; 5:1-11. Rom. 15:25-28. 1 Cor. 16:1-3. In view 
of the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the want of 
consideration on the part of the early church, everything was lost 
sight of but divine worship. All secular business was suspended. 
Daily services were held, and hospitalities were extended from house 
to house. Those who had gave to those who had not. Some did 
stop long enough to sell their property to give it away. This was a 
time of absorbing and continued liberality as a part of their divine 
worship. Funds disappear very rapidly under such conditions. In 
the nature of the case the thing could not last. We do not know 
exactly how long, possibly less than one year. There was a perse- 
cution, dispersion and scattering abroad. Acts 8:1-40. The means 
of carrying on business were squandered. Abject poverty ensued 
in the church at Jerusalem, and when Paul comes to the front as 
the apostle to the Gentiles, we find him making collections among 
his Gentile converts for "the poor saints at Jerusalem". So much 
for "the community of goods" as the absorbing element in divine 
worship, and of running wild on a single issue of all to every- 
body, and nothing to anybody. 

6. Suffering meekly for the sake of Christ is a christian grace. 



Part I: The Opening 39 



But this element had been made so prominent in the early Church, 
that when Mohammed arose and the Northern Tartars swept in upon 
Europe and Africa, and parts of Asia, the people were altogether 
unprepared for self defense, the Christian Churches were nearly 
all blotted out in those regions, the great Alexandrian library was 
destroyed and Islam reigned almost supreme in that whole terri- 
tory while the land of the Christ is under Mohammedan rule to- 
day. Self defense is a law of nature, and of God. It is not safe 
to build a system in a single thought, or to make every thing sub- 
ordinate to one idea. A man or woman may fight in defense of a 
natural right. 

7. On the other hand, Alexander and Nepoleon made war 
the predominating idea of their lives. They drenched the earth in 
human blood and made millions of desolute homes, and clad them 
in the dark pall of mourning. 

8. Ardent spirits are of use in the arts and sciences and in 
exceptional cases in medical practice. But the infamous saloon is 
the result of making the sale of ardent spirits the absorbing and 
preponderating idea. It is one among the greatest curses of the 
age. And how to get rid of the octopus has puzzled the wisest 
statesmen. The simplest solution of the saloon incubus is to quit 
drinking. Nothing else will accomplish the work. Blot out the 
octopus. 

9. Make self the absorbing idea, as many persons do, and the 
result is abandoned selfishness, which is idolatry, with the total 
loss of all the finer feelings of concern for others, a loss of all 
sentiments of humanity, and the development of the most amaz- 
ing brutality. 

10. Discard the divine order, and make organized secretism 
the absorbing and predominant element and you have "the Secret 
Lodge System," with its ramifications extending throughout the 
world, fastening its dark fangs on every thing, defying God and 
man, subordinating the individual, the home the Church, the state 
government, dictating its own terms with a sinister, snaky, defiant 
air, cowering the weak, misleading the innocent, betraying the con- 
fiding, ostracising those it can not intimidate, and dictating to all 



40 The Secret Lodge System 

those it can subordinate. It hushes discussion, dictates to the pul- 
pit what it shall, and what it shall not preach, sits as censor over 
the press, revising the columns of the newspaper, establishes hours of 
work, and wages, and prices, says who shall sell and on what terms 
and who shall have work, guarding the avenues of social life, 
makes friends and enemies at its option, deposes men from office, 
and fills vacancies with their own choice, manages the banking 
institutions and monetary interests of the country, controlling the 
commerce of the world, accomplishing their ends by any means they 
may choose, defying the laws of God and man at their own option. 
The Secret Lodge System recognizes no authority but its own as 
an ultimatum. At this day in Russia the secret lodge power is 
a government in itself, distinct from and antagonistic to the civil 
government of that Empire. In the British Empire the Secret Lodge 
System is predominant. The civil government is in the hands of 
the secret empire. I am told that in Mexico nearly every civil officer 
is a member of the secret lodge, and that most if not all the Romish 
priests are Masons. In this case the laity are not forbidden to join 
the orders, as it does not interfere with the confessional. In Ger- 
many the Secret Lodge System does not exercise so much influence, 
as no society can be organized in the empire without the super- 
vision and intimate knowledge of the civil government. Thus the 
nation protects itself against secret conspiracies. It is a wise 
thing to do. It is the only protection an individual, a family, a 
church, and educational institution, a business house, or a civil 
government can have against fraud, imposition or conspiracy, to 
know what is going on among its members, students, employes and 
citizens. What the legitimate are not permitted to know is to be 
looked on with suspicion and alarm. In the United States of Amer- 
ica the Secret Lodge System is an empire in itself separate and dis- 
tinct from the civil government, recognizing no power but its own, 
and exercises a significant and largely controlling influence in the 
social, civil, financial, educational and the religious life of the 
nation. The civil government in this country has but little, if any, 
protection against the machinations and movements of this secret 
combined power. It has passed some laws against conspiracies, 



Part I: The Opening 41 



but these laws have but little chance or power of execution in the 
hands of those controlling the destinies of the nation. The three 
departments of the government are largely in the hands of the 
secret empire, which, in the Republic, is deadening the vitality, the 
energies, the spirituality of the Churches. This secret empire is 
controlling our educational institutions by the most insidious meth- 
ods accustoming the young to adroit, clandestine, and close meth- 
ods of operation, developing secretiveness instead of openness, 
frankness, freedom and honesty. The song of nearly all the schools 
is educate yourself, and then you can get a paying position, if not 
you will toil all your life. It is not "educate yourself" that you 
may be better and more useful, but that you " may get better pay," 
and the man of good education who does not get better pay is 
counted a fool. Through the teaching of the Secret Lodge System, 
we are educating and developing a race of sharpened rascals, who 
will not scruple at any thing for the sake of personal promotion. 
The secret system is adapted to this kind of work. Selfishness is 
the animus of the whole system. It is organized selfishness for 
personal promotion at the expense of others, and by the most clan- 
destine methods. Through this dark medium the Republic is hasten- 
ing on to an aristocracy of wealth, and unless the dark demon is 
cast out, we will end in an imperialistic regime, under the name 
of a Republic. But the Republic conceived by our fathers, instead 
of being realized, will be a ghost, a shadow, and ideal history, while 
the empire will be managed, directed and controlled by the power 
behind the throne, and the dream of the secret empire will have be- 
come a reality. It is now almost there. And nothing will save us 
from the impending doom hanging over us, but the utter abolition 
of the secret empire, in the home, the Church and the civil govern- 
ment. These three powers must act in concert to oust this mon- 
ster, dark visaged, secretive and sinister. Other nations have for- 
bidden Jesuitism. We must go farther and forbid the whole 
brood. We must cut the whole network, and abolish the system. 
This or we will repeat the history of all past Republics, only in 
a worse form. We will be under the control of a secret lodge 
power as heartless as Nero, carrying in its own right the death 



42 The Secret Lodge System 



penalty for non-submission. Lawson's "Frenzied Finance" clearly 
demonstrates, perhaps, without his intending it, that the controlling 
financial interests of this country are conducted clandestinely; — 
that the trusts, the banking system, the insurance companies, the 
railroad systems, the shipping, packing and manufacturing interests 
are largely a part and parcel of the secret empire. Labor, com- 
merce and almost every branch of business in the country are or- 
ganized under secretism. In many, many lines of employment 
men cannot get work unless they belong to some department of 
the Secret Empire. The financial magnates open their hands, and 
there is prosperity. They close their hands, and a financial crisis 
ensues. This power has even approached the president with de- 
fiant threats. They boast that they give the nation "object les- 
sons." Without a qualm of conscience these men will clandestinely 
throw out their financial nets in the struggling sea of humanity, 
and when they have quietly drawn in millions of imperiled prop- 
erty, they will draw to shore with their ill gotten gains, crush- 
ing the hearts, lives, hopes and financial interests and living of 
tens of thousands of innocent victims. These things could not be 
done in open day light. They must be planned, organized and 
carried out secretively. There is always danger in the dark amid 
pitfalls, where voracious animals roam, or where dishonest men 
have pre-eminence. Even if all men were good angels, there would 
be danger in the dark or secret lodge, as the same scene might 
occur as did in heaven when the angels fell, or when a lodge was 
instituted in Eden. Sin and secrecy are closely allied. Only with 
God who can not do wrong, can secrets be indulged without re- 
straint. Any man may enjoy an innocent secret. But there are 
secret personal sins, all of which must be confessed and abandoned. 
But combining in secret for any purpose is a dangerous thing. 
"The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him." But this 
is an open secret to all who love, fear, obey and commune with 
God. But the true people of God are not a secret order. They 
do all they can to make this known to the world. The attitude 
of mind on the part of the sinner is the barrier in the way of 
realizing the secret of the Lord. The same effort that is made 



Part I: The Opening 43 



by the true Christian to let his divine secret be known to the world, 
if it were made by the members of the Secret Lodge System, to 
have his secret known, would break up every secret lodge in the 
world. There is no restraint on the Christian to prevent him from 
telling the divine secret to men. This is one of the contrasts be- 
tween the Secret Lodge System and the Christian Religion. This 
Secret System is on a dangerous basis. Being cut off from public 
view it can do as it pleases. There is no restraint only at its own 
option, except that, like the thief, it must not be caught. It must 
be adroit. It works under cover so that no one outside has any 
opportunity of knowing what is being done, till the end is accom- 
plished. The farmer plows, and sows, and cultivates his fields 
by daylight, before the eyes of his neighbors. The lodge does its 
work in some dark conclave, and works in daylight by signs, grips, 
and pass words, which none understand but the initiated. They are 
not amenable to public sentiment, as there is no basis upon which 
sentiment can work. The plans are laid in secret. They go out 
and deftly accomplish their work, or clandestinely make or con- 
trol public sentiment. They may cry down a worthy man, or pro- 
mote one unworthy of public confidence. They may with unanimity 
cry down a most worthy project, or commend one detrimental to 
the best interests of the community. The Church can not reach 
the lodge, because the Church is subordinate, and the movements 
of the lodge are in secret. I once knew a professed gospel minister 
who was for years a Mason, but denied the connection. The Church 
could not prove his lodge membership. But when this minister 
died, the Masons took charge of his body and buried him. I knew 
this man personally, very well. He had lived a lie, all these years, 
while preaching the gospel. Death revealed his falsehood. He 
died with the lie in his heart. This man was a minister in an 
antimasonic church. The lodge upheld, sustained and honored this 
man in his double life, his deceit, his falsehood, his hypocrisy. 
These men all acted according to the principle of the system, that 
of organic secretism. That this man was a member of the order 
was a secret to be kept. "Silence is golden, whether it be truth 
or falsehood," is an adage that applies to the lodge system. "To 



44 The Secret Lodge System 

deny the truth, or assert a falsehood," is another adage that may 
apply with equal force. The civil government can not reach these 
lodge men, because, where the lodge interests are involved, these 
men will not testify in open court. This was demonstrated in the 
Morgan case, and in many, many cases since. This fact is brought 
out in every court where the secret lodge is involved. These men 
will suffer the penalty, and perjure themselves before they will 
testify. When desired as witnesses, they may be absent, or if 
present they may not remember, or may refuse to testify and take 
their punishment. If you call a public meeting to discuss the ques- 
tion, they will pack the convention and turn it into a triumph for 
the lodge, keep the people away, if possible, or attend themselves 
with stated faces, or masonic grin. If you attend a college and are 
known to disapprove of the lodge, when the catalogue comes out 
your name may not be on the list. If you do good and faithful 
work in any line, the records may be destroyed. If you write a 
treatise and engage an ostensible anti-Masonic publishing house 
to issue the volume, you may find a Masonic proof reader revise 
your work, and make the book read the reverse of what you wrote. 
If you secure a room in a Biblical Seminary where young men and 
women are being prepared for the ministry, you may find your room 
entered clandestinely by some unknown person and everything 
turned topsy turvy, or wake up some morning to find your door 
tied with a rope on the outside and you confined till nine o'clock 
a. m., amid the jeers and laughter of janitor, students and pro- 
fessors. There is nothing infamous that some men will not do 
under cover of secretism. There are many men in the lodges 
much better than the system and will not stoop to any meanness. 
But the tendency of the whole Secret Lodge System is to vicious- 
ness, disorder, immorality and anarchy. Some men see no dan- 
ger in all these things, because their eyes are blinded by present 
self interest. I am told by responsible parties, that in one of the 
secret temperance orders in a village in Ohio, the society was 
first a debating club, then a social gathering, then "a courting 
school," and finally disgusted with themselves they abandoned the 
whole work. In another village where I resided five years a secret 



Part I: The Opening 45 



temperance society was organized. It divided the temperance forces 
in the place, ran a short time, and then ceased to exist. One of 
the members told me that by their secret meetings they failed 
to reach the persons who most needed the influences of temper- 
ance sentiment and association. In another village in Ohio some 
of the members went to the saloon to indulge in drink after attend- 
ing the secret temperance lodge. Such things would hardly occur 
in open temperance meetings. There is something demoralizing 
in the very air of a secret lodge. Rev. Charles G. Finney 
of Oberlin, Ohio, was a Mason in his earlier years. But after his 
conversion he never attended the secret lodge but once. He said 
the atmosphere of the lodge was not congenial. In after life, Mr. 
Finney wrote a strong book against Masonry. The reason that 
so many men prefer the lodge to the Church is that atmosphere, 
associations, methods, influences, and spirit of the Secret Lodge 
System are all more congenial to their carnal, unregenerate natures 
than that of the Church. The lodge supplies a want in the un- 
renewed heart and mind. They find enough religious ceremony 
in the lodge to quiet, pacify or repress the religious craving of 
the human soul, while there is no special moral restraint put upon 
their carnal passions, desires, inclinations, ambitions or conduct. 
This restraint is at least ostensibly found in all the Christian 
Churches. A man once told me that he believed in God, the Bible 
and the Church. "Why then not a member of the Church," I 
asked. His reply was, "I am out to make money. There are cer- 
tain things I dare not do, if I am a Church member." Yet this 
man was an active organizer in the secret lodge. To the carnal 
man the air of the lodge is congenial, the associations desirable, 
the cover of secrecy under strong obligations gives a sense of se- 
curity, no special religious tests are demanded, discipline is pri- 
vate, plans are quietly promoted, appeals for help are usually 
heeded, and for these reasons men prefer the lodge. If the Church 
is embraced at all it usually becomes a secondary affair, and easily 
is left to the ladies. If it comes to a choice, the lodge is selected. 
The Church goes by default. Ministers and laymen have more 
than once affirmed to me that they get more out of the lodge than 



46 The Secret Lodge System 

the Church. And no wonder. They put more of themselves into 
the lodge. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be 
also." It is said that in the early days of Christianity, on account 
of the activity, humanitarianism and helpfulness of the Christian 
Church the secret lodges almost died out, and that they arose 
again in the lapses of the Church. Men have often confessed to 
me that if the Church faithfully performed its functions, there 
would be no ground for the Secret Lodge System. My response is, 
"Then why not join hands, hearts, minds and lives and labors to 
bring up the Church to the Divine Ideal?" This would be more 
rational than keeping up two distinct and rival organizations, and 
both of them expensive and imperfect, and the one objectionable 
in its very form. There is a sinister motive in sustaining the 
Secret Lodge System. And that motive is based in a species of 
infidelity. The lodges do many commendable things. This is un- 
deniable. For these things I do not condemn, but commend them. 
The worst of men do many commendable things. But these things 
do not commend a disreputable character. But I have pointed out 
the origin, character, form of organization, associations, and 
tendencies of the Lodge System. For these things I have no com- 
mendation. I have given substantial reasons for my attitude. I 
have no ill will toward the members of The Secret Lodge System. 
I wish them well. I am writing this work to win them to the 
truth, and to lead them away from their most serious errors. I 
pray that they may heed these warnings in time, and not be en- 
gulfed in the catastrophe which they will bring upon themselves 
if they persist in their present course. 



CHAPTER XII. — THE TRUE BASIS. 

It is useless to condemn a thing and offer nothing better. Some 
men are destructive, but they are not constructive. Wisdom ad- 
vises us to be both. We would destroy the evil, and build the good. 
I propose an unfailing remedy for the evils of which we complain, 
and under which we suffer. The plan is practical and may be put 



Part I: The Opening 47 



into operation in all places without partisan divisions. The System 
I propose is open and constitutes THE WAY OF LIFE. It is com- 
posed of easy stages, and may be enjoyed by men, women, and 
children of all races in all the world. Each point may be amplified 
into an extended discourse, but the writer cannot do so in this con- 
nection. 

I. Let us all honestly seek after and sincerely endeavor to 
know the truth. You ask, "What is truth?" "Thy Word is 
truth." Nothing but the Divine Word is Truth. There are seven 
sources from which we derive the Truth. These are: 1) Instinct; 
2) Intuition; 3) Reason; 4) Conscience; 5) Experience, in- 
cluding all human history; 6) Nature, including all the natural 
sciences, Physics, or Natural Philosophy; 7) The communications 
of the Divine Spirit, including the Written Revelation of God's 
Will to Man. These seven sources of the Truth, when properly 
understood, interpreted and applied, all agree and harmonize. In 
normal conditions there is no antagonism or discord in these things. 
They all speak with the same voice. In a true interpretation or 
exegesis, they speak the same language. In their true relations 
there is not a discordant note in all these seven realms of thought. 
They illustrate and confirm the same truths. 

II. Believe or have Faith in the truth as thus brought to our 
minds and understandings. It is incumbent upon us not only to 
know but also to believe the truth, as truth. To doubt or deny the 
truth shows ignorance, dishonesty or perversity. The faculty of 
Faith is inherent in the human mind. Also strength of intellect 
is given to every one to exercise Faith. The object of faith is af- 
forded us through the seven channels indicated above. The object 
of Faith is the Truth. No man is under obligation to believe a 
falsehood, an inconsistency or an absurdity. The act of Faith, 
which is the mental acceptance of the truth, is our own, and for 
this we are responsible. True Faith exists in these four facts or 
stages, the faculty, the strength, the object, and the act. 

III. Obey the truth. We must know, believe and do. Truth 
demands outward action. It is elemental in our conduct. Know 
first, then believe, then do. Truth as mere mental furniture is of 



48 The Secret Lodge System 

little avail. Its best results are reached only by obedience. Of 
course, it is a mental development to search after, find out and be- 
lieve the truth as a mental conception. But truth reaches after 
practical results. Theory is important, but action goes beyond the 
stage of theory. It is action that tunnels the hills, climbs the moun- 
tains, bridges the rivers, mines the metals, and discovers continents. 

IV. Abandon all error, evil and wrong. The truth demands 
reformation. Our best efforts will be nullified or weakened or 
vitiated, if in any way we cling to error. The truth and wrong can 
not harmonize. There is no ultimate advantage in adhering to 
evil of any kind. All error in thought, disposition, sentiment, word 
and conduct must be abandoned. Every wrong theory, system, and 
association must be given up, because they do not comport with the 
truth. Truth in all its relations must be preeminent and inter- 
penetrating. As long as evil, error, and wrong lie in us or among 
us, the truth can not be exhibited in all its fullness. 

V. Seek the inward spiritual life, the regeneration of the 
soul effected by the truth and the gracious influences of the Holy 
Spirit. This is called in the sacred scriptures being "born again," 
"born of God," "born from above," "born of the water and the 
Spirit." This is a moral and spiritual change wrought in the 
thought, the spirit, the disposition, the words, the conduct in life. 
It is a conscious change. The Spirit of Christ is hereby inwrought 
into our nature. We are new creatures. 

VI. Next comes confession of the truth, of our sins, of our 
faults, and of Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. This confession 
is necessary. Having a personal knowledge of Christ, the Truth and 
of our salvation we are competent witnesses. 

VII. The next step in The Way of Life is that of Consecration 
to God. All that we have and are or may be we put upon the 
altar at the disposal of the Master. A readjustment is to come 
about in our relations in which nothing is to come between our 
souls and God. He is to direct our thoughts, our feelings, our dis- 
position, our words, our conduct in all respects. We are to be co- 
partners with the Infinite Being. Satan is to be counted out as a 
governing element in our character and in the conduct of our lives. 



Part I: The Opening 49 



Mere policy is no more to be our guide, but true principle is to 
reign. The sinister methods of secretism are to be for ever adan- 
doned. Our bodies, minds, souls, time, possessions, labors, influence 
are all to come under the new and Divine regime. 

VIII. The next step is the inward cleansing. Sin defiles us 
in our souls, minds, spirits and bodies. We put away all outward 
sin as to our conduct in the act of reformation, but the inward 
defilement of sin remains, until the inward cleansing is effected 
by the operation of the Holy Spirit. In regeneration, or the new 
birth, the Spirit of God begins the new divine spiritual life in us. 
In cleansing this same Holy Spirit cleanses out of us the effects of 
the old life of sin. Sin defiles and this defilement must be re- 
moved. This is a distinct work of grace and is effected by the 
power of Divine Truth and the active operation of the Divine 
Spirit. It is to be definitely sought. This work takes out of us and 
away from us, the defilement of sin, the effects of sin, the love of 
sin, the desire of sin. It brings the heart, mind, soul and life 
into a state of quietude, rest, satisfaction in God. It brings to us 
the full consciousness of salvation. It removes all fears, mis- 
givings and doubts as to our acceptance with God. We now know 
that we love God, and that God loves us. We now rest in God. 
The disturbing element of inward sin is taken out of us, the new 
element of the Divine Presence has taken full possession of us. 
We now fully know that we have passed from carnal death unto 
spiritual life. The defilements of sin, the desires of sin, the love of 
sin, the besetments of sin, the roots of sin, the tendencies of sin 
are cleansed out of us. Now God works freely in us to do his own 
good pleasure, and we cheerfully and willingly co-operate with him 
in his gracious work. The fruits of the Spirit appear without de- 
fect or deformity, and we grow in grace without obstruction. 

IX. Then comes, in consecutive order the enduement of power. 
This is an enlargement and deepening of the work of grace in the 
mind, heart and life. It is effected by the same agency, the Holy 
Spirit, and by the same means, knowledge, faith, prayer, consecra- 
tion, perseverance and obedience. The disciples, after the ascen- 
sion of Christ, waited in earnest prayer in Jerusalem ten days be- 



SO The Secret Lodge System 



fore the wonderful pentecostal enduement of power came. But 
this abundant grace will always come if it be properly and persis- 
tently sought in the divine ways. The enduement of the Spirit 
gives power, and humility, and boldness. It removes timidity and 
slavish fear. It enables us to cheerfully do the will of God, to 
bear the burdens of life, and affords as a patient spirit to forbear 
in the ills and relations and provocations and temptations of life. 
This enduement enables us to have the victory over the world, 
the flesh and the devil. It makes duty easy, pleasant and joyous. 
It fills the soul with satisfaction and delight. It gives us power 
with God and men, makes life sweet, and puts divine things fore- 
most in our minds, hearts, conversation and conduct. It puts us 
in hearty fellowship with all the true children of God, and makes 
their association desirable and agreeable. It is an antidote against 
all selfishness, and makes us liberal minded and benevolent. It 
prompts us to sincerely desire and practically manifest the wel- 
fare of all mankind, and is the sure precursor of everlasting life. 
Amen. 



P^JRT II. 

THE CONTRAST 



CHAPTER I. 



This whole issue may be set in a clear and convincing light by 
a sharp, definite and truthful contrast between the Christian Sys- 
tem and the Secret Lodge System. These two systems are diverse. 
They both have organic forms, but they are essentially different in 
form, spirit, origin, character, method, tendency and end. The 
difference is as distinct as that of day and night; as free and slave 
labor; as monogamy and polygamy; as marriage and promiscuous 
intercourse; as open and shut; as the drug store and the saloon; as 
temperance and inebriety; as peace and war; as health and disease; 
as distinct as the difference between the Causasian and the Hot- 
tentot; as heat and cold; as up and down; as east and west; as 
right and wrong. There need be no mistake. This distinction is 
apparent in different ways: 

1. In their origin. The Christian System is of Christ. It 
is named after him. He is its author, soul, head and penetrating 
Spirit. Christ is the foundation and corner stone of the Christian 
System, and this is the only true Religion. Christ gave the whole 
outline of the Christian System, taught it by precept, and illus- 
trated it in his life. He assured it by inspiration, and confirmed 



52 The Secret Lodge System 



the system by his death, resurrection and the Holy Spirit. Christ 
is the key note. It is of Divine origin. 

The Secret Lodge System is of doubtful origin. It can not be 
said to be of God. Many think it is of Satan. At least it is of 
human origin. There has always been an obscruity about the 
lodge system. It did not have its origin in the light of day. 

2. In the Christian System Christ is the center. He is at 
the heart. He animates by his spirit the whole system from first 
to last and always. Christ is subordinate in the Lodge System. 
He is not at the heart. He is a mere appendage. In some sections 
of the Lodge System Christ is not known. In some of the secret 
degrees Christ is eliminated at the behests of his enemies. Christ 
is merely accommodational in the Lodge System. 

3. The Christian System is a Divine inspiration. It comes 
from God and leads back to him. Holy men spake as they were 
moved upon by the Holy Spirit. The Lodge System is not an in- 
spiration from God. It has come by some other means. It is 
earthly, sensual, devilish, arising to the appearance of the "angel 
of light," and descending to the lowest depths of degradation 
and vice. 

4. The System of Christ is open as the sunlight of day. It 
has nothing to hide, disguise or obscure in any permanent sense. 
All may see and enjoy. The Secret System is close, dark, hidden. 
It came in the dark, and stays in the dark. It refuses to come 
to the light. 

5. The Christian System is "the mystery of Godliness" revealed 
in Jesus Christ, through the Holy Bible, the Holy Spirit, the 
Apostles and the "Church of the first born." The Lodge System is 
"the mystery of iniquity" hid from all the ages except the select 
few. It is shut out from the public view. 

6. The Christian System is general and unrestricted. It 
is open to all nations, all races, all ages and sexes, and conditions 
in life — the young and old, the rich and poor, the learned and 
ignorant, the high and low, the lame, blind, deaf and dumb. None 
are excluded. The Lodge is narrow, partial, restricted. Only cer- 
tain select parties may enjoy its privileges. It rejects the larger 
share of the human race. 



Part II: The Contrast 53 



CHAPTER II.— THE HOLY BIBLE. 

The Book of the Christian is an Open Book. All who wish 
may read. Instinct, intuition, reason, conscience, experience, the 
works of nature, the influence of the Holy Spirit and the Written 
Word of God are awarded to all the children of men in their nor- 
mal condition. There are no dark recesses arbitrarily shut out 
from our view. But the book of the lodge is a sealed book, shut 
out from all except the select few, who are initiated. The esoteric 
can be known only in organic secretism. The Book of God is a 
revelation, the book of the lodge is a mysticism. The contrast 
is sharp and clear. Christ disavows the Secret Lodge System. 
This is manifest. Christ was never in any way voluntarily en- 
tangled in the lodge. He never took or enforced any of its secret 
vows or obligations. When, in his trial in open court, he was 
asked of his disciples and his doctrine, he said, "I spake openly 
to the world; I ever taught in the temple in the synagogue, whither 
the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why 
askest thou me? Ask them which heard me, what I have said 
unto them; behold, they know what I said." "I sat daily with you 
teaching in the temple." "And he taught in their synagogues." 
"Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went into the temple 
and taught." "But, lo, he speaketh boldly." "Then cried Jesus 
in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye 
know whence I am; and I am not come of myself, but he that 
sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know him; for I am 
from him, and he hath sent me." Can any member of the Secret 
Lodge System go into pubic places and in open court and make 
such unqualified and open avowals as these? Certainly not. Such 
a course would break up every secret lodge in the world and pre- 
clude their existence. It would blot out the whole Secret Lodge 
System, which evidently is not of God. Christ says, "There is 
nothing covered that shall not be revealed; and hid that shall not 
be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light; 
and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops." 
The teaching of the lodge is the very converse. The lodge says, "What 



54 The Secret Lodge System 

I tell you in darkness, what is artificially hid, what ye hear in 
the ear as a secret, divulge not to the public under penalty of 
death, ostracism, social degredation, or financial ruin." Christ 
very definitely says, "Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Be- 
hold he is in the secret chambers, believe it not." The lodge sys- 
tem says, "If you would find Christ, join, join yourself in fellow- 
ship with the secret chambers of "The Templars." Christ disa- 
vows the whole Secret Lodge System. 



CHAPTER III. — TRUE BENEVOLENCE. 

The Christian System is a benevolent institution in all its 
departments. This system comprehends God, physical and animal 
nature, all the revelations, the Bible, the individual, the home, the 
Church and the state government. The knowledge of God and all 
these things which follow are the gifts of our Heavenly Father. 
They are bestowed on his creatures. They are all designed, created, 
ordained and bestowed by the Supreme Author of the Universe for 
the most benevolent purposes. They are directed for the personal 
and collective benefit of all his creatures. These institutions of the 
Gospel are kept up by benevolent contributions. God graciously 
sends the seasons, the sunlight, the rains, the air, the heat and 
cold, and the varied productions of the earth for the good of his 
creatures. They cost us nothing but the effort to obtain them. The 
husband, wife and children benevolently toil and make sacrifices 
for each other. The dam risks her life for her young and asks 
no reward. The Church of Christ is a voluntary and benevolent 
association, and it confers its benefits upon the whole community. 
The Church is founded in love to God and man, as a primal, essen- 
tial and interpenetrating element. "All the law is fulfilled in one 
word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The 
civil government is designed for the direction, protection, the ad- 
vantage of all the citizens. Taxes are to be equitably assessed, 
impartially collected, and honestly distributed for the common good. 
The poor and the rich are alike expected to obey the laws and en- 



Part II: The Contrast 55 



joy their benefits. In normal conditions, all these things are done 
as openly as the unclouded noon day sun. Publicity is a standing 
rule in all well regulated civil governments. And there is no secret, 
oath, vow, pledge, or obligation in this whole series of benevolent 
associations of the Christian System. But the Secret Lodge Sys- 
tem is a tale of organized selfishness. It is a palpable violation of 
the tenth commandment against selfishness or covetousness which 
is idolatry. The very structure of the lodge is of such a form as 
to give its members an undue advantage over those outside. The 
lodge is a conspiracy against the rest of mankind, and every one 
of them ought to be broken up. The main design of the lodge is 
the especial benefit of its own members. Its ultimate aim is the 
same. The whole system is interpenetrated with extreme selfish- 
ness. It is self first, others afterward, or not at all. The generous 
deeds of the lodge are exceptional and secondary. The revolt of 
Satan in heaven was selfish, egotistic, a desire for pre-eminence. 
He was puffed up with pride and fell into condemnation. His con- 
ceit led him to aspire to a position which did not belong to him. 
When Nachash and Eve formed a secret junction in Eden the appeal 
was to selfishness. The order of God was discounted. "Ye shall 
not surely die." "God surely knew." There is no danger. "Your 
eyes shall be opened." "Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and 
evil." "The tree was good for food." "It was pleasant to the 
eyes." "It was a thing to be desired to make one wise." All these 
things are personal and selfish considerations. There is not a 
single touch of generosity in the whole argument. It charges God 
with falsehood, insincerity and imposition and selfishness. Specious 
promises were made, in the fulfillment of which there was more 
loss than gain. "Their eyes were opened." "Thy knew they were 
naked." "They sewed fig leaves together." "They made them- 
selves aprons." All was conncentered in self. Then they heard the 
voice of God in the garden. They hid themselves, forming a secret 
lodge in Eden, among the trees. It is all self. Mark the answer. 
"I hear thy voice." "I was afraid." "I was naked." "I hid myself." 
"It is all I, I, I, and self." Then Adam excused himself, and Eve 
excused herself. The Nachash, like the Mason, was silent under 



56 The Secret Lodge System 



condemnation. Satan had accomplished his nefarious purpose. He 
knew all the charges were true. He was silent. Cain was not 
accepted. His selfhood was offended. He secretly took his pious 
brother to the fields. He secretly murdered him. He secretly hid 
him in the ground, as it is said that Captain Morgan's body was 
hid in lake Erie. Jacob and his mother formed a secret plot to 
deceive Isaac and steal Esau's birthright. They adopt a deceptive 
regalia, antecede Esau, practice deceit and falsehood, and thereby 
identify themselves with the Secret Lodge System. The transaction 
was extremely selfish, circumvented by secretism. Laban was se- 
cretive and selfish. He formed a lodge in his own family and im- 
posed Leah and Rachel both on Jacob as his wives, and after- 
ward by artful endeavor changed Jacob's wages ten times. David 
through a selfish and secret conspiracy, caused the death of Uriah, 
seduced that good man's wife, for the personal satisfaction of his 
own sensual desires. Absalom formed a selfish and secret conspiracy 
to dethrone his father David, and died in the attempt. The Secret 
Lodge System is the essential essence of organized selfishness. 
I do not mean to say that every one who belongs to a secret lodge 
is selfish. Many of them are very generous. But the lodge system 
in its concept, in its construction, in its tendencies, and in its 
influences is essentially selfish, and thus becomes the very opposite 
of the Christian System. Here is a fine description of a represen- 
tative lodge man. "A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with 
a forward month. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with 
his feet, he teacheth with his fingers. Forwardness is in his heart, 
he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord." This 
is true. "He teacheth with his fingers" in signs, grips, 
gestures, and attitudes. In this way he "salutes his brethren 
only." The salutation is meant for none but the fraternity. 
The system is partial, preferential, selfish. It is for "the advantage," 
"the popularity," "the influence," that men usually join the lodge. 
The motive is not liberality. The contrast is distinct and remark- 
able. No one can be deceived in a fair consideration of the ques- 
tion. Much more might be said. But there is here enough to con- 
vince any considerate and honest man. 



Part II: The Contrast 57 



It becomes the duty of every individual to withdraw from the 
Secret Lodge System. The Home should cleanse itself from this 
leprous thing. It is the duty of every Christian Church to put un- 
der kindly and firm discipline every one of its members associated 
in secret lodge fellowship, and if possible, save them from this 
disastrous entanglement. In all associations in social and business 
life the secret form should be carefully discarded. Educational 
institutions should not permit secret associations to exist under their 
administration. No state government is secure that permits any 
form of the Secret Lodge System to exist under its realm. It is 
therefore the right and the duty of every civil government to strict- 
ly prohibit the existence of any such associations under its juris- 
diction. 



CHAPTER IV. — THE DEATH PENALTY. 

The death penalty is not in the Christian System only as a 
consequence of transgression. It is not punitive, but resultant or 
consequential. A man may over work or over eat and die as a con- 
sequence. He may fall into the fire or water and lose his life. He 
may fall over a precipice or come in the way of a rail road train 
and thus be killed. This same law of resultant action holds in all 
spiritual, moral, mental or physical law. We are warned against 
all danger and excess. Death is never executed as a penalty by 
the Christian System. It comes to us to save life not to kill. It 
offers life and warns against death. The death penalty as a punish- 
ment for sin is never inflicted. "The wages or result of sin is 
death." Death is simply a consequence, not penal. The murders 
committed by the nominal Church in the age of the martyrs were 
all unwarranted and wicked in the extreme, and in direct contra- 
diction to the spirit and teachings of the Gospel. The same law 
holds good in nature. All natural or physical death is a conse- 
quence of the disregard of natural law. This is very evident. If I en- 
ter a vacuum, I perish from want of air. If I am submerged in water, 



58 The Secret Lodge System 

I am drowned. If I am not rescued from a burning building, I am 
consumed with other combustibles. If I fall unprotected from a. 
great height, my body is bruised and broken. If I swallow poison, 
and take no antidote, death ensues. And so on through the whole 
realm of Nature. 

The same is true in the moral world. Adam sinned, and there- 
by separated himself from God. He became afraid of God. He fled 
from God and hid among the trees. And so of moral transgression 
always. Death is not in the economy of grace. God prefers that 
all would come unto Him and live. Death is the direct result of 
sin. Satan introduced sin and death. Satan holds the power of 
death. God has the power of life. It is true God says, "I kill 
and I make alive." But death with God is always consequential. 
He says, "Thou shalt not kill." He will not do what be forbids 
us to do. God inflicts death on no one. He warns us against 
death, and admonishes us against that course of conduct which will 
result in death. The right of the civil state to inflict the death 
penalty is doubted and denied. No man or body of men has the 
right to take that which they can not give. No human power can 
give life. Therefore we possess no power to rightfully take life 
away. All punishment in the family, the Church and in the state 
government, should be restraining, preventive and reformatory, and 
not mortuary. The time was when it was held allowable for one 
man to kill another, that parents might take the lives of their 
children, that a master might kill his servant, and that the Church 
might kill a man's body to save his soul. But those days are 
gone by in civilized countries, but we cling to the absurd idea 
that the civil officers are above God, that they may do what God 
forbids, and may, yea shall kill one man if that man kills another. 
How much better is the state than the murderer? Not a whit. 
And the Masons hold to murder for the violation of a shallow oath. 
The time was when they hung men for debt. God never takes life ar- 
bitrarily. Death is a result. This infamous doctrine of murder be- 
longs to the Kingdom of Darkness, of sin, of Satan. The wars of 
the Jews and of all other nations show conclusively the folly, the 
absolute folly of killing men, women and children, to reform them, 



Part II: The Contrast 59 



or of deterring others from evil. War breeds disorders, and as an 
eminent man says, "War is hell." 

Innocent men are sometimes hung. Better let a hundred crimi- 
nals live, than to execute one innocent man. By executing the 
criminal you forever shut off from him the possibility of reforma- 
tion, restitution or reclamation. It is criminal to kill any human 
being, even by any authority. God alone holds the right of death, 
for he alone has the power to give life, yet he does not exercise this 
right. He did not do so even in the case of Satan. God kills no 
man. He lets all men run their course, till they end their own 
lives, or are killed by accident or malice. God forbade the killing 
of the murderer, Cain. All wars are contrary to the will of God. 
Death is imposed on us by sin as a consequence or result of con- 
tingent circumstances. The Christian System which is the model 
and law for the individual, the home, the school, the Church, and 
the state, discards all killing of human beings. "Thou shalt not 
kill" is absolute law as applied to the human spiecies. But in 
order to fairly present the question, let us concede the popular 
doctrine that an individual in self defense, the military and civil 
law may take life, does it follow that a secret lodge may also in- 
flict the death penalty? Not at all. No such right follows. It is 
an arbitrary and wicked assumption. If this were so, then any 
organization, family, association, or literary society, or social organ- 
ization, or mercantile club, or religious sect, might go into the 
killing business. Why make an exception in favor of a secret 
society? 

But The Secret Lodge System blasphemously assumes the divine 
right of taking life for the transgression of its laws, and is there- 
fore the converse and the arbitrary nullification of the whole 
Christian System. The Lodge is a dangerous element in society. 
It moves in the dark. Its dagger is at hand to strike down any 
offender. It is an Empire distinct from the civil government. It 
has its own laws, courts, executives and penalties, independent of 
all other governments. Under its reign there is no security to 
person, home, church, business, or civil government, only at its 
election. All these things exist only by the sufferance of the Lodge 






60 The Secret Lodge System 



System. This thing claims pre-eminence. It may at any time in- 
sidiously strike down the individual, a man's business, the gospel 
minister, the church organization, any government official, the 
president of a nation, the king on his throne, the Czar of an empire, 
and there is no protection or redress, except for the base criminal 
himself. He will be sheltered, protected, and defended by every 
dark device known to man or devil. Any social system carrying a 
claim to the right of the death penalty, ought to be abandoned, 
modified or abolished. This applies especially to the Secret Lodge 
System, which is a poisonous fungus growth imposed upon society 
by the devices of Satan and the satanic arts of evil men. The 
whole system, in all its multifarious forms, has the execration of 
God, and deserves the condemnation of angels and men. 



CHAPTER V. — THE PLACE OF GOD. 

God shuts out from us the definite knowledge of the future. 
This is his right. This state of mind as to futurity inheres in our 
nature. We cannot see tomorrow till it comes, and then it is today. 
It lies in the order of creation that we cannot peer into the years 
before us. This prerogative of God the lodge assumes and hides by 
oaths, penalties, and the device of degrees everything that is in the 
future of the candidate. He knows nothing, only as it may be re- 
vealed to him from time to time in the development of the various 
degrees. All the lower degrees are made absolutely subordinate to 
and dependent upon the higher degrees. In this respect they even 
outdo God, who is impartial and treats all men alike as to the 
mysteries of the future, except,, perhaps, the prophets, and with 
them it is a general benefit for all races and individuals. God alone 
is absolute in truth and wisdom, and He alone has the right to de- 
mand absolute submission. In His infinite power, wisdom and 
goodness he never errs, never wrongs or imposes upon any of his 
creatures. He never misleads any one, nor does God ever go wrong. 
He may therefore be implicitly trusted. But the Secret Lodge 
System blasphemously assumes this divine prerogative of leading 



Part II: The Contrast 61 

men in the dark, blinded and blindfolded, with an abject submission, 
into its men-made, artificial, manufactured mysteries. That confi- 
dence which we owe alone to God, this iniquitous system impu- 
dently demands of us. It is a blasphemous assumption. "The reve- 
lations" made and published and for sale at a profit, of the differ- 
ent secret orders, do not and cannot reveal to us the demands that 
may be made upon us by the lodges in the course of our lives. We 
may be asked in the course of future developments, or be called 
upon to keep secrets, enter into associations, perform actions, to 
be parties to plans, schemes, and purposes, that may be utterly 
inconsistent with our judgment, our conscience, our convictions of 
truth and right, or contrary to church or civil law, but we will 
have no choice, redress, escape, or alternative, but to go forward 
and comply without question, even to murder, treason, robbery, 
piracy and slavery, and the protection of all forms of crime and 
iniquity. The System not only assumes the prerogative of God in 
shutting out futurity from us, but makes us abjectly subordinate, 
not intelligently subordinate as God does, but leads us directly 
into the realm of darkness, defection from truth, into corruption, 
and sin of every form, thus demonstrating that the whole system 
is of Satanic origin, which fact we have elsewhere amply proven. 
The Word of Truth, Reason and Righteousness forbids all such 
alliances: "O Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart 
is enlarged, ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in 
your own bowels. Now for a recompense in the same, (I speak as 
unto my children) be ye also enlarged. Be ye not unequally yoked 
together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness 
with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with dark- 
ness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath 
he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the 
temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; 
as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I 
will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come 
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and 
touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a 
Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the 



62 The Secret Lodge System 



Lord Almighty." 2 Cor. 6: 11-18. No one but him who is willfully 
ignorant, or uninstructed, or is an infidel in heart or life will deny 
the application of this passage to the Ancient Mysteries, and 
to "The whole Secret Lodge System." Argument will not convince 
those who are determined not to see. 



CHAPTER VI. — THE HEAVEN OF HEAVENS. 

There are no secret lodges in heaven. There is no excuse for 
them on earth. They are totally disallowed in the upper realm. There 
never was but one in that sacred country, and it was cast out of 
the celestial domain, with all its adherents, Satan and his cohorts. 
Every home, church and state should follow this eminent example 
and eliminate the lodge in all its forms from their midst. The 
Secret Lodge even in its mildest forms is a bane wherever it 
exists. Heaven will never gain the sway on earth till the whole 
Lodge System is utterly abandoned in principle, form, spirit, 
element and practice. "No man can serve two Masters." "Ye can 
not serve God and mammon." The kingdom of God is Light, Truth, 
Righteousness and Freedom; the kingdom of Satan is darkness, 
sin, error, deception, abject subordination. The kingdom of God 
on earth is represented by the Christian System; the kingdom of 
Satan by the Secret Lodge System. In the kingdom of God, Christ 
is pre-eminent; in the kingdom of Satan, Christ is subordinate, 
and Satan is pre-eminent. The Church is of God; the Lodge is 
of Satan. The Church is open, the Lodge is secret. Heaven is 
opposed to the Secret Lodge System. Heaven is a holy and pure 
place. I here speak of the place where God reigns supremely 
without a rival. It is the abode of the saints and the holy angels. 
It consists of those numerous worlds in space, where God mani- 
fests his personal presence, and where His will is perfectly done, 
where all evil is cast out. The Bible speaks of three heavens. 
These are: 1st. The atmosphere. Hence we read of "the birds 
of heaven," "the clouds of heaven," "the rains of heaven." 2nd. 
The place of the visible sun, moon and stars. Hence we read of "the 



Part II: The Contrast 63 



sun of heaven," "the moon of heaven," "the stars of heaven," "the 
hosts of heaven." 3rd. The place where God has his throne. The 
third heaven to which Paul was caught up. In this third heaven of 
heavens there are no secret leagues, cliques, lodges or schemes. 
All is open, fair and honest. In that pure land of the blessed, 
there are no devices to take advantage of one another. There 
are no secret oaths, vows, pledges or obligations in the upper 
and better world. The more this earth becomes like heaven, the 
more will the secret lodges die out. When Heaven becomes en- 
throned in any man's or woman's mind, heart and life, the secret 
lodge gets out. The two can not abide together. They are dis- 
similar and antagonistic. They are, as has been seen, in all their 
essential elements, dark, cowardly, underhanded, sinister; and se- 
cret schemes are not known in heaven. 



CHAPTER VII. — THE ELEMENT OF JUSTICE. 

Justice is against the Secret Lodge System. Just means that 
which is right, or law based in and conforming to equity. It is 
fairness in dealing between man and man, between God and man, 
and between man and God. The synonyms of Just are equitable, 
upright, honest, true, fair, impartial, proper, exact, normal, orderly, 
regular, tasteful. Justice is denned as the quality of being just, or 
the act of rendering to every one his due, in thought, word and con- 
duct, or to act in conformity with truth and reality. Justice is 
opposed to all fiction, double-dealing, imposition, misleading state- 
ments, appearances or designs. All this definition and averment 
stand in the face of the whole Secret Lodge System in its con- 
demnation. In its incipiency, its organization, its promulgation, in 
its conduct, and its influence it is unjust. The system can not bear 
the light of day. This is why it is hidden in the dark. The tender 
germ hides itself at first in the earth, but it soon emerges from its 
cell and reaches its arms toward the sun. But the stronger the 
Lodge becomes, the darker are its ways, and it forever remains in 
the dark. This is its characteristic, that the sun ne'er shines into 



64 The Secret Lodge System 

its dark cell, and you must be bandaged blind to enter in. Blind 
when you are out and blind as you enter in. This is not just. 
It is not equitable. It is not fair. It is an abnormal standard. 
For three or more men to join together under a secret pledge to 
rule a whole community by fair or foul means is not fair, honest, 
upright, impartial or equitable. It is a self-constituted authority, 
and is therefore abnormal, and not in good taste. It is a public 
imposition. It ignores merit, and puts a premium on chicanery. 
The tendency is to elevate the unscrupulous, and to degrade those 
who are conscientious, and scrupulously just, and loyal to truth and 
righteousness. It is not proper that there should be a secret power 
among men above the individual, above the home, above the 
Church of Christ, above the civil government. And this is the atti- 
tude the Secret Lodge System assumes. There is no doubt of this. 
No honest man who knows the facts in the case will dare deny this 
assertion. The lodge system even assumes the place of God over 
the human conscience, and essays to murder the man who revolts 
from the monstrous system. Christ and his Church are the em- 
bodiment of Justice. The Lodges, major and minor, are in their 
very form a manifestation of injustice to all those who are out- 
side of them. They afford an undue advantage to all their mem- 
bers over and above, and beyond all other persons. They parcel 
out among themselves the places of honor, emolument and trust 
without any regard to the merit or demerit in their own members, 
and ostracise and injure others simply because they do not belong to 
the lodges. They favor quiescents in preference to men of out- 
spoken honesty. It is a secret conspiracy against the rest of man- 
kind. They accomplish their ends by stealth. They hide their 
movements from public view. Their purposes are perfected in the 
dark. The man or movement against whom they direct their darts 
has no means of defending himself, because the deadly poigniard is 
hidden under the most spacious mask. It is utterly impossible to 
organize a secret society for auy purpose whatever without doing 
an injustice to those who are excluded, or who do not choose to 
unite with the order, because it gives those who are within an 
undue advantage over those without. This is only relatively true 



Part II; The Contrast 65 



of any open organization. A Mason once confessed to me that if 
all men, women and children were made Masons, the system would 
be of no account. This can not be said of the Church or of any 
open organization. The very terms of membership in all the orders 
preclude the possibility of a universal membership. The degrees 
are designed to afford preferences and undue advantages even 
among the membership of the orders, and much more so toward 
those who are outside. The higher degrees work the lower de- 
grees to their own personal interests, and the minor orders are 
simply branches of the major orders, and are manipulated to the 
advantage of the higher orders. The whole system from bottom 
to top is a most cunningly devised system of the grossest in- 
justice. It is based upon and interpenetrated with injustice and 
unfairness. All Churches and well regulated civil governments 
provide for publicity as a means of justice and protection to the 
public. The Lodge system depends for its very life and existence 
on secretism, which is an enemy of civil government. The lodge 
perverts the very law of justice and comity, and is a standing 
menace to all who do not belong, and by the degrees is an artificial 
system of inequality among the members, even were it possible 
for all to belong. It supplants the civil government, or controls it 
to the selfish ends of the lodge, and destroys the antanomy of the 
Church. It produces friction, disorder, antagonism, strife and 
every evil work, as is seen in the strikes in civil society. It is 
an unseen wheel in a wheel, often turning in a contrary direction 
from the ligitimate power, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, often 
delaying or perverting justice, or accelerating injustice. It is a social 
government based on secretism and favoritism. All legitimate govern- 
ments in all departments of life are based on justice, truth, openness 
and publicity, and fair investigation. The lodge, in its multiplied 
forms, "ever conceals and never reveals." True civil government 
never permanently conceals, and ever reveals. As an act of justice, 
the thing for all governments, family, Church and civil, to do, is to 
forbid and abolish absolutely all forms of secret organization, and 
require that they all stand in the open light of thorough and im- 
partial investigation, otherwise none are safe. 



66 The Secret Lodge System 

CHAPTER VIII. — THE PLACE OF WOMEN. 

It is said that women may not become Masons. Except Eve 
only two have ever been initiated. There are side degrees for the 
ladies, and they may enter the minor orders. There is a reason for 
this restriction. It lies in the character of the Initiation Cere- 
mony, which every duly constituted Mason knows. They deserve 
some credit for not admitting women, and deserve reprobation for 
not reforming the order. That they do not admit women, shows 
that at least ostensibly, they have left among them some sense of 
common decency. Some pretend that they are excluded from the 
mysteries because a woman can not, or will not, keep a secret. If 
this be so, it is to her credit. It shows that she is more like God 
than men are. God is communicative, and is always trying to tell 
us something. There is a reason. It is not given above. It is 
this: No woman but the most abandoned character will ever sub- 
mit to the attitudes required in a Masonic initiation. And as all 
Masonic woman are protected in their chastity by an oath, it stands 
to reason that the abandoned women for lodge use lie outside 
of the order. They need not be initiated, indeed must not be. 
So it is "will not" in one case, and "must not" in the other case. 
But God makes great account of women of all classes, and 
Christ initiated a rather doubtful character at the well of Samaria, 
and she made a very efficient missionary. Nor did he reject Mary 
Magdelene, tho' she did have seven devils. She became a very de- 
voted woman. Woman has an important place in the home, the 
Church and the state, and is debarred from no mystery except that 
of voting, and some think she might enjoy even this fancy with- 
out detriment. Woman stands out in bold relief in the old and 
the new Testaments, is better represented in the Church than the 
men, and is recognized as an important factor in all civil govern- 
ments. She was last at the Cross, and first at the tomb, and carried 
the first message of a risen Savior. A Woman brought the Christ 
into the world, and earth is dependent on woman for its popula- 
tion, and the main agency in the redemption of the races to Christ is 
Woman. Ae she turns, so the whole world goes. And the only thing 



Part II: The Gontrast 67 



that pours contempt on woman is the Secret Lodge System. The 
Church of Jesus Christ forbids uncleanness in all relations, and 
doubtless on this account some men at least prefer the lodge to the 
Church. Then the Church of Christ is exacting. The Church of 
Christ does not fit the carnal nature of men. The Church demands 
newness of mind, heart and life. The lodge fits the carnal nature 
without any change. 



CHAPTER IX. — THE MYSTERIES. 

Another contrast between these two systems lies in the mys- 
teries. Both systems have mysteries. The Secret Lodge System 
has its mysteries. The System of True Religion has its mysteries. 
But they are diverse from each other. Essentially they have noth- 
ing in common on this score as to sense, application and use. The 
words are alike, but the sense is different in the two systems. In 
the Word of God the term refers to some truth revealed. In the 
lodgs system it applies to something hidden, not revealed, kept in 
the dark, forbidden to be made public by the fraternity. In the 
Christian System all the mysteries are to be made as public as 
possible by all of God's people, as well as by any one who may 
wish to do so. They are to herald the mysteries of God abroad 
everywhere in all the world. Every member of the Church is 
encouraged to tell all he knows or can express about this Divine 
Religion. Every means possible are used in the way of language, 
illustration, printing, public meetings, books, papers, Sunday schools, 
religious services in public meetings, books, papers, Sunday schools, 
of all classes, ages, races and conditions. Men called Ministers 
of the Gospel are trained, appointed and employed on pay to pub- 
licly and from house to house, declare the mysteries of God. Any 
one who reads the Scriptures attentively will see that this is so. 
But the lodge system is the very opposite. Its mysteries are hid- 
den under promises, vows, obligations, oaths, penalties of organized 
secretism. Their mysteries are not to be made known publicly. 
They are hidden in the lodges and in the minds, hearts and lives 



68 The Secret Lodge System 



of the members who dare not declare themselves abroad, under 
the severest penalties. Every device known to men is resorted to 
in order to keep these secrets hid from the public, so that they 
themselves may move in darkness and with cunning, and stealth, 
and craft. The difference is so glaring that all can see but those 
who are wilfully blind. The contrast is as clear as the un- 
clouded noonday sun. 

The Holy Bible, which is the text book of the Christian Re- 
ligion, makes much account of the mystery. The Bible is a Revela- 
tion of the mystery of God, intended for all human beings, and for 
the benefit of the lower animals, vegetation and the earth. It is 
a book for the universe of God. 

The Divine Word speaks of two disseverant kinds of myster- 
ies. These are: 1st. The Mystery of Godliness. 2nd. The Msytery of In- 
iquity. They stand in open contrast, and dissimilar, and in antago- 
nism to each other. The first is true, the second is false. The first is 
Divine, the second is Satanic The first is rational and natural, the sec- 
ond is irrational, unnatural, manufactured. The first is for a high, and 
holy, and Divine purpose, the second is for a low, sinister, sefish Sa- 
tanic purpose, being a "mystery of iniquity." Their origin, character, 
methods, influence and aims are different. They lie in different 
plains of thought and activity. They can not coalesce, though they 
may mingle, as Judas did with Christ and the apostles. The first 
is to save, the second to betray, and murder the good. Anamas 
and Sapphira belonged to the mystery of iniquity. They had some- 
thing to hide, to make a pretense over, and to lie about. "The 
mystery of iniquity" is a hidden evil, or an organized system of 
evils. It is something iniquitous covered up, and kept from the 
light. It is the moving in the dark to accomplish something that 
can not be accomplished by open and reputable means. It is some- 
thing that involves a hidden villiany. This much in a general 
way. 

1. But specifically, "The Mystery of Godliness," is a Revela- 
tion, something that was a mystery, but is now made known, but 
still carrying the name of mystery because it was once hidden. 
This may seem strange to the unthinking, but a little consideration 



Part II: The Contrast 69 



will make it very apparent. Jesus said to the disciples, Mark 
4:1-24, when they were puzzled over the parable of the sower, 
"Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God." 
So it is possible for us to know a mystery. Then it is called the 
revelation of a mystery. Then Christ proceeded to fully explain 
this mystery that they might proclaim it publicly anywhere and 
put it upon the printed record for the whole world. The Secret 
Lodge Mysteries are different. They are to be kept eternally from 
the public by every device known to human ingenuity. 

Messrs, S. D. Burlock & Co. of Philadelphia, Pa., in their "In- 
dex and Dictionary to the Bible, on page 254, define the word 
thus: "Mystery, that which was hid, or known obscurely, or dark- 
ly before, but is now clearly revealed; as the calling of the Gen- 
tiles, Eph. 3:3; Col. 1:26 — the doctrines of the gospel, Mark 4:11; 
Rom. 16:25 — some spiritual truth, couched or hidden under ex- 
ternal representation or similitude, Rev. 1:20; 17: 7 — truths which, 
after they are revealed, have something in them dark and un- 
fathonable, 1 Tim. 3:16." Here are four phases of Divine Mys- 
teries. They comprehend the most sublime truths that can claim 
the attention of devils, angels, men or God himself. All the mys- 
teries of the Secret Lodge System, are the most puerile, insignifi- 
cant, ridiculous and blasphemous in comparison. The Divine Mys- 
teries refer to the calling of the Gentiles, the sublime Doctrine of 
the Gospel, the illustrations of truth by similitudes, and the un- 
fathonable mind of the only everliving and eternal God. All the 
mysteries of the lodge system are of the most common, or trif- 
ling or infamous character. Tell all the secrets, fore and aft, of 
this abortive Secret System. (It is not impregnated with Divine 
Turth,) and there is nothing unfathonable in them. All there is 
in the mystery of the Secret Lodge System, is that certain words, 
signs, gestures, attitudes and performances, grips, plans, etc., are 
by trickery, organized secretism, and conspiracy are made to be- 
come Mysteries. They are all manufactured, abnormal, secluded 
mysteries. There is nothing natural, sublime or Divine about 
them. The attitude of two men coming together in the five points 
of fellowship, and the peculiar pronunciation of ma-hah-bone are 



70 The Secret Lodge System 



made mysteries. Edmond Ronayne in his "Master's Carpet" says 
that "the point within a Circle" is "the symbol of Masonic licen- 
tiousness." Mr. Ronayne ought to know. He was through it all, 
I suppose. The difference then between the two systems of Mys- 
tery is this: In the Mystery of Godliness, every possible, laudible 
effort is put forth to make the mystery known among men; in the 
Mystery of the Secret Lodge System, every possible effort known 
to the ingenuity of men, even to slander, falsehood, financial ruin, 
threats and murder are resorted to in order to prevent the mystery 
from being known by the public. This is "the mystery of iniquity." 
It is stained with the violation of every commandment in the 
decalogue. Count them one by one and the system stands con- 
demned before them all, and of the whole conjunction. 

The recent Bible Encyclopedia, (A. D. 1903,) edited by the 
Rt. Rev. Samuel Fallows, A. M., D. D., LL. D., comprehending the 
scholarship of the age, confirms the above view. In this work, on 
page 1202, under mystery on an article written by Rev. J. F. Den- 
ham, M. A., F. R. S., St. John's College, Cambridge, England, we 
have the following: "Mystery, (Gr. musterion, secret doctrine.) 
The etymology of this Greek word, which seems to be the simplest 
and most illustrative' of its meaning, is that from the Hebrew to 
'hide' or 'conceal,' whence a covert or secret place, a secret." He 
then gives five illustrations of the use of the word. These are: 

1. A Revelation. A most unspiritual and dangerous sense 
is but too often put upon the word, as if it meant something ab- 
solutely unintelligible and incomprehensible; whereas in every in- 
stance in which it occurs in Septuagint or New Testament, it is 
applied to something which is revealed, declared, explained, spoken, 
or which may be known or understood." Then he speaks — (1) of 
the mystery of the parable. Math.l3:3-9. Mark 4:11. — (2) of 
the mystey of the woman. Eph. 5:32. Rev. 17:3, 7-3 — (3) of the 
Mystery of Doctrine. 1 Tim. 3:16. 1 Cor. 2:9-10 — (4) the mys- 
tery of Faith. 1 Tim. 3:9. Rom. 11:25-32. Eph. 3:4-6. 1 Cor. 
15:51-5. 1 Cor. 14:2-4. All these refer to things once unknown, 
but now revealed to the knowlegde and understanding of men, 
women and children without any sign, grip, pass-word, pay or pen- 



Part II: The Contrast 71 



alty to withhold them from the public. They are as free as the air 
and sunlight for all. On the mystery of iniquity this writer says: 
"And in the prophetic portion of Paul's writings concerning the 
mystery of iniquity (2 Thess. 2:7,) he speaks of it as being ulti- 
mately 'revealed,' (verse 8;) and to complete the proof that the 
word 'mystery' is used in the sense of knowable secrets, we add the 
words, ' though I understand all mysteries,' (1 Cor. 13:2.) The 
Greeks used the word in the same way." The distinction is plain. 
The Divine Mysteries are to be made known to all men, the Secret 
Lodge Mysteries, only to the select few. God is no respecter of 
persons in the sense of partiality. The Secret Lodge System is 
partial, narrow, bigoted and respects those only who come under 
the power and dominion of its invented system of secret, clandes- 
tine tyrancy. And even in this case, the interpenetrating light of 
God's Truth shall ultimately be blown through all this pretentions 
mysticism, and its monstrous form shall stand out in the full glare of 
the Divine Sunlight, beneath the scorn of the universe. "The way of 
the ungodly shall perish." The Divine Mystery tries to make 
itself known; the Secret Lodge Mystery forever tries to hide 
itself away in the lodge realm. The mystery of God walks 
in daylight that it may be seen, read and understood; the 
Secret Lodge Mystery walks in the dark, meets behind tylered 
doors and drawn curtains, forbids public investigation, and always 
appears in public in a mystic covering impenetrable by the keenest 
human eye. If you wish light from the lodge you must go into the 
darkness. "If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of 
darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how 
great is that darkness?" I never knew any one initiated into the 
Secret Lodge System in the daylight. The System usually, if not 
always, selects the night time for its secret meetings. 



CHAPTER X. — THE VOICE OF INSTINCT. 

Instinct is against The Secret Lodge System. Instinct is born 
in all of us. It is that which we know without being taught. It 



72 The Secret Lodge System 



is common to brutes, insects and fowls, as well as man. I have 
said elsewhere in this work that instinct is averse to The Secret 
Lodge System. This is manifest upon a little consideration. By- 
instinct the bird knows how and where to build her nest, how to 
hatch and feed her young. The male bird knows to sit upon the 
eggs while his mate is absent from the nest to gather herself food. 
All animals know by instinct their natural enemies, and to flee 
from them. They will shun all dangerous, mysterious, dark, strange 
or doubtful places, or approach them with utmost caution. They 
are afraid of anything unusual. They must be hunted and caught 
with art. They will shun the trap and must be led into it by a 
tempting bait, or a deceptive decoy. All the young know how to 
take nourishment and to exercise their limbs, and to perform all 
their natural functions. The chick knows how to break the shell 
of the egg in which it is encased. The child knows how to breathe, 
to open and close its eyes, how to throw out its limbs, how to nurse, 
to cry and laugh, and how to evacuate the draught of the body. 
All these things are known by nature. We shun naturally every 
thing that is dark, mysterious, doubtful, or that we cannot exam- 
ine before embracing it. And so no one ever joins a secret lodge 
without some lure, decoy, bait, inducement, or imposition. The 
very reasons that we dare not investigate before joining and then 
are forever bound thereafter to keep secret its revealments, are 
sufficient for its utter condemnation. This is the voice or instinct, 
a divine principle in every human soul. The Secret Lodge System 
perverts, dwarfs, represses, outrages and corrupts and abuses, and 
hushes the voice of instinct,which is the voice of God in every sen- 
tient being. Hence the mere joining of a secret society is a sin. 
Secretism is in itself sin. By secretism I mean a secret or a system 
of secrets in an organized form. And more than this, the mere 
keeping of a secret is often a sin. Suppose I know that a man in- 
tends to murder or rob you. It may be a gang of desperate men, 
combined to accomplish the crime. But I say nothing. I never 
intimate to you your danger. I wonder if I am not guilty of a 
crime. And if they carry out their purpose, I am guilty of a 
double deed of sin. Suppose I stand hidden in a woods, and see 



Part II: The Contrast 73 



a man drowning in a river near by. I hear his cries for help, but 
I simply stand still in my unseen retreat, put on "the Masonic 
Grin," and do nothing. I could have rescued the man, but I do not 
do so. I wonder if I am not guilty of murder? How much more 
criminal, if a groupe of the most stalwart men, thus stood off 
in a close retreat, looking on, with a grin on their faces, and their 
finger on their mouths, in deathly inactivity and silence. How does 
this apply? Very plainly. Every intelligent and perceptive mem- 
ber of the Secret Lodge System not blinded by predudice and self- 
interest, knows that many persons, homes, the Churches generally, 
and the nations of earth are being drowned in the floodtide of in- 
iquity, which has its fountain head in organized secretism, that 
this thing moves in the dark, like the unseen death messenger that 
floats in the air, and settles like a pall of eternal night upon the 
nations, while these night raiders cry to each other in 
secret signs, grips and pass-words, spoken in a whisper, 
*'Let the wars and bloodshed go on, let the floods do 
their watery work, let the flames crackle higher." We will adroitly 
carry away the spoils, which others rescue from these disasters. 
There is not anything more damnable than the Secret Lodge Sys- 
tem. It is Satanic in its origin, nature, character, tendencies and 
ends. The good the system has and does are but baits to lure the 
unwary on to final ruin. The voice of Instinct is stay out of all 
secret lodges, and if in, get out of them all, and at once. There is 
gold in this dark valley, but it is death to obtain it. There are 
advantages in the lodge, just as there are advantages in lying in 
stealing, in fraudulent dealing, and in some other forms of sin, 
but all these advantages are gained at the sacrifice of truth and 
right, and by the transgression of the Divine Law, and ends in 
eternal death, unless restitution be made. Thus temporary and 
unjust gain is an eternal loss. 

Especially is the Christian Instinct against the Lodge System. 
Charles G. Finney had been a Master Mason. After his conversion 
he attended the lodge once. After that he never went back. He 
said the atmosphere of the Lodge room did not suit him. Rev. 
John Smith of Galion, Ohio, said to me, "It, the lodge, is no place 



74 The Secret Lodge System 



for a Christian to be." He had been a Mason. Another man by 
the name of Smith, who was instrumental in preserving Elder 
Bernard's "Light on Masonary" from destruction, said to Peter 
Eby of North Robinson, Ohio, "Masonry is a wicked institution." 
A Lutheran minister once said to me, "I once joined a secret lodge, 
but I got out as quick as I got in." The thing was repugnant to 
his Christian instinct. A man must stupify his instinct before ha 
can be quiet in the Lodge. 

All animals, including man, are afraid of that which is un- 
known, strange or mysterious. The child is afraid in the dark. 
This caution rarely ever leaves us. The horse shies at the dark 
bridge, at anything unusual, at the ditch which -he thinks is unsafe, 
or which he has not crossed. The flock will frighten at the dark 
passage, and will refuse to enter. The wild inhabitant of the woods 
is fearful of any curious or unusual fixture. The screen behind 
which the adept hunter would hide himself must besome familiar 
before he will approach or pass it. He thinks it is some hidden 
danger, and rightly judges by his very instinct. The bird is fright- 
ened away fron the corn field by the dummy man. And so instinc- 
tively every man, woman and child instinctively shuns the Secret 
Lodge System. It is only by some deceptive allurement that any 
human being ever enters a lodge room. These allurements are false 
promises, curiosity, an appeal to self interest by imposition and 
false avowals. No unalloyed good can ever be accomplished by 
secretism, because it is against the instinct of every sentient and 
conscious creature in the universe of God. Instinct teaches us 
first to investigate before we embrace. The Lodge System demands 
that we first embrace and then investigate, thus reversing the order 
of nature. The system is an imposition upon and an insult to the 
instinct with which we are endowen. 



CHAPTER XI. — THE REALM OF REASON. 

The Lodge System in contrary to reason. It violates reason. 
It takes reason away, or ignores its claims. A man to join the 



Part II: The Contrast 75 



lodge must "be blindly led." He must not know before, but after 
he is involved in the system. He is to adopt first and reason after- 
ward. And whatever may be the results of his after reasoning, 
may be he is under the most solemn obligations to keep to himself 
any adverse impressions he may have received, ceremonies gone 
through with, or any information that may have been imparted. 
In a general way he may speak approvingly of the thing as "a 
grand system," and laud its praises. No revelations are permit- 
ted. To all these things the man becomes "a dumb dog" to all 
the outsiders, and to those in the lower degrees he is forever muz- 
zled. The Holy Bible, the system of nature, the Christian home, 
the Church of Christ, the civil government, all appeal to men's 
reason. Men are free to examine first and then reason out conclu- 
sions, and deliberate till you are satisfied, communicate to others 
impressions and information, and then adopt or reject without 
being implicated. 

God has endowed every human and angelic being with the 
faculty of reason. He calls upon every one to exercise this power. 
It is a blessed endowment, and lifts us above the lower animals. 
Reason is that power in man which enables him to notice, remem- 
ber, compare and deduce conclusions. By its exercise he reaches 
knowledge beyond mere instinct. Intuition, or that which we 
teach ourselves and reason are allied. We begin to reason at a 
very early age. We say this is so. This we know. Then we find 
that something else is also true. From these two facts we deduce 
a third as the result of our reasoning. I draw a straight line |, 
then I draw another |, thus. I join then thus V. I then see that 
there is still an opening at the top of the figure. I reason or con- 
clude that if I draw a third line in the open space above, that the 
figure will be closed. Then I deduce a general truth, that an angu- 
lar space can not be enclosed with less than three straight lines. 

God makes use of reason in dealing with us, and He also de- 
mands that we use reason in our intercommunion with each other, 
and in the use of the things he affords us for our benefit. The term 
reason, in its different forms, is found in the Old and New Testa- 
ments over sixty times. He says "This is the reason," "Render a 



76 The Secret Lodge System 



reason," "Search the reason," "My reason returned," "It is not 
reason," "Give a reason of the hope," "Let us reason together," 
"Your reasonable service," "They reasoned," "He reasoned in the 
Synagogue," "Hear my reasoning," "Bring reasons." 

Now, if the Secret Lodge System be a good thing, then it is 
selfish, unreasonable and wicked to hide it from the general public. 
If it be a wicked thing, then it is a threefold piece of wickedness, 
to organize, hide and uphold it. If it be a good thing it ought not 
to be a perpetual secret; if it be evil then it ought to be abolished. 
The extreme efforts made to conceal the organic elements, the do- 
ings and the obligations of the orders, very manifestly and reason- 
ably indicate that there is something sinister in the system. If it 
were not so, why not let the day light shine into the thing. Even 
a horse knows enough by instinct not to plunge headlong into the 
dark. A blind animal is always cautious about his steps. How 
much more does it become a reasoning man to exercise discre- 
tion. But rational beings rush blindfolded into the Secret Lodge 
System, and then boast of the number and power of their dupes. 
It is amazing! This is the first point. In the next place it is con- 
trary to the dictates of reason for any one to commit himself to 
any system by on irrevocable vow, oath or obligation before he is 
permitted to fully, fairly and openly investigate the foundation, 
principles, character, demands, tendencies, and possible tendencies 
and results of the system. Reason must have a basis upon which 
to act, and this basis is knowledge. An oath in the Court is based 
on what a man or woman knows, not on what the witness does not 
know. But the oath of the Lodge System is based on ignorance, 
not knowledge, and obliges the party to "ever conceal and never 
reveal," the information which may be afterward imparted. The 
object of an oath is to elicit, not conceal information. This is 
well known. The oaths, pledges, vows, promises of the lodges, 
pervert the very purpose of the oath. They reverse the order of 
nature and reason. They are abnormal, wicked and invalid, unlaw- 
ful, and unreasonable. The marriage vow, the Church vow, the 
oath of civil alligiance, are all designed to bring out one's attitude, 
mind, purpose and fidelity; not to hide, conceal or deny some fact 






Part II: The Contrast 77 



or facts. No oath, vow, pledge or promise is valid which obliges 
anyone to do what is wrong, or that hinders one from doing right, 
or that makes a mere blind tool of a man, or that blindly leads 
one in a way he does not know. An oath of secretism is a palpable 
violation of the highest dictates of Reason. My family, the Church, 
the state government, society, my partner in business may some- 
time need the very information locked up in my bosom. But a 
secret oath forbids the revealment. Here I stand between two 
powers. One says, "Speak;" the other says, "Be Silent." Which 
power shall have the ascendency? Which demand shall I obey? 
The Home, the Church, the Civil State, all ordained of God, or the 
lodge devised of man in his carnal state? Shall I obey the normal 
or the abnormal? Shall I cling to the judicial or the extra-judicial? 
Two directly antagonistic attitudes can not in reason both be right. 
God, and Home, and the Church of Christ, and the civil government 
after the Divine order are Right. Therefore the Secret Lodge Sys- 
tem in its essential "and basal elements is wrong, because it seeks 
to dominate the Divine order. "It is the Oath that makes the 
Mason." And so it is of all the secret orders. Reason, therefore, 
cries out against them. 

A third reason is this: That the most eminent and best men 
of all ages have discarded the Secret Lodge System, while the very 
worst men have been its associates and defenders. This is notable 
and notorious. Moses, Joshua, Samuel, all the prophets, major 
and minor, Christ, Paul, Gregory, Nazianzen, Neander, Moshein, 
Rollin, the Wesleys, Otterbein, Alexander Campbell*, and many 
others, all stood aloof from and denounced the Secret Lodge Sys- 
tem. Robbers, thieves, murderers, the unclean, the dishonest, the 
covetous, liars, hypocrites, all seek the cover of Secretism. This 
will be set forth more clearly in eminent opinion. 



CHAPTER XII. — A CASE OF CONSCIENCE. 

The conscience is the window of the soul, as the eyes are the 
windows of the body. As the sunlight comes into our houses through 



78 The Secret Lodge System 

the glass in our window frame, so truth comes to our inward nature 
through the conscience. If the window glass be stained red, or blue, 
or yellow then every thing we look at through these windows will 
have to us the color of the glass through which we look. So if the 
conscience be stained with prejudice, or error, or selfishness, then 
what we look at will be stained with the same errors. Wrong may 
seem right to us, and right may appear wrong. If we would see 
aright the glass must be transparent and clear, and not colored. 
It is very important, yea, necessary, that the conscience be en- 
lightened that it be clear and transparent. Conscience is the sense 
or faculty of the soul by which we judge between right and wrong. 
It is the monitor of the soul. It is given to every human being, 
and distinguishes him from the lower animals, and from material 
things as earth, and trees, and grass. It is the moral sense. The 
conscience is a subject of education. It may be made clear and 
sensitive, and just by proper teaching. The conscience in its nor- 
mal state easily and quickly responds to the ^ruth, but is warped 
by prejudice and self-interest, and misled by embracing error. It 
is like a clock which if set wrong will not tell the right hour of 
the day. The conscience is a sure guide only when set right and kept 
right. This is why a revelation from God became a necessity. Sin 
warped and beclouded men's minds, has distorted their understand- 
ing, so that the Revelations of the Divine Spirit and of the Written 
Word become a necessity to teach men the true way and to en- 
lighten the conscience. The conscience does not discover truth, 
but recognizes and is made capable to receive the truth. The glass 
does not discover or create the light, but receives and transmits 
the light, in proportion to its transparency. If the window be 
blinded, it does not enlighten the room. So if the conscience be 
blinded or obscured by error, the truth does not enter the soul 
and mind to enlighten the heart. The man remains in utter dark- 
ness though the sun shines with great brilliancy. 

A very important distinction between "The Christian Religion" 
as set forth in the New and Old Testaments and the Secret Lodge 
System relates to the conscience. This term is from the Latin 
words con, meaning together with, and scio, to know, and means 



Part II: The Contrast 79 



to know within ones self. Webster says that conscience means 
"the faculty, power or principle within us, which decides on the 
lawfulness or unlawfulness of our own actions and affections, and 
instantly approves or condemns them." The conscience is the me- 
dium of the voice of the Spirit of God in the human soul. Dr. 
Sshaff very forcibly says, that "conscience is the inborn sense of 
right and wrong, the moral law written in our hearts which judges 
of the moral character of our motives and actions, and approves 
or censures, condemns or justifies us accordingly. Rom. 2:15. 
This universal tribunal is established in the breast of every man, 
even the heathen. It may be weakened, perverted, stupified, de- 
filed and hardened in various ways, and its decisions are more 
or less clear, just and imperative according to the degree of moral 
culture. John 8:9; Acts 23:1, 24:16; Rom. 9:1; 1 Tim. 1:5. 
Bible Cyc, Vol. 1, P. 451, Rt. Rev. Sam'l. Fallows, (1902, A D.) Ed. 
The Conscience is a sacred thing in man, and is not to be tampered 
with, suppressed or violated, but duly enlightened. 

The Christian System makes much of the conscience. The 
Jews in John 8:3-9, after trying to entrap Christ, were "convicted 
by their own conscience, went out" from him "one by one." Acts 
23:1. Paul says, "I have lived in all good conscience before God 
until this day," though he had been in great error in his opposition 
to the Christians. "And (Acts 24:16) herein do I exercise myself, 
to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and men." 
In Rom. 2:14-15 the writer speaking of the heathen, says, that 
they "shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their con- 
science also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile 
accusing or else excusing one another." Rom. 9:1. "My con- 
science also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost." In Rom. 13:5 
we are admonished to be subject to the civil power" not only for 
wrath, (or fear) but also for conscience sake." And thus we have at 
least thirty references in the Word to the conscience. In this list 
we read of a "good conscience," a "weak conscience," a "wounded 
conscience," "another's conscience," "every man's conscience," a 
"pure conscience," a "defiled conscience," a "perfect conscience," a 
"conscience purged from dead works," "hearts sprinkled from an 



80 The Secret Lodge System 



evil conscience," and of a state of grace wherein "the worshippers 
once purged should have no more conscience of sin." — Heb. 10:2. 
Now can any human soul find in the whole Secret Lodge Sys- 
tem anything approaching to this array of testimony as to the ex- 
istence, sancity, importance and power of the conscience? In the 
lodge system the conscience is ignored. It is set aside. It is left 
behind or buried out of sight. It is a word not in the glossary or 
vocabulary of the lodge system. When a man enters the lodge he 
leaves conscience behind. He pledges himself to follow the lodge, 
to do its bidding, to abide by its directions. Even if he dimits, 
his mouth is sealed. He is under the Hidden Hand, thus assum- 
ing the place of God over the Human Soul. "Once a Mason, always 
a Mason." The judgment of the individual must forever be sub- 
ordinate to the Secret Empire. Manhood is gone. The Lodge 
System takes no cognizance of the conscience. No honest man 
with an enlightened conscience can join or remain in any secret 
lodge. He compromises himself, and binds himself to an associa- 
tion and a ritualism and a course of life inconsistent with the free 
and untrammeled exercise of the conscience. After joining the 
lodge, the initiate has no election but to submit. What ever may 
come he must submit, co-operate and put his finger on his mouth. 
What are said and done in the lodge are not subjects of publicity, 
outside protest, unless by express official permission. A man be- 
comes a thing to move as he is moved upon. His real manhood 
is gone. His manhood and even his life are in the hands of the 
lodge, and at its disposal. He may withdraw, but his lips are 
sealed. 



CHAPTER XIII. — THE CIVEL GOVERNMENT. 

Civil Government is ordained of God for the punishment of 
evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well. Government 
was at first patriarchal, the father governing as long as he lived, 
and was then succeeded by the oldest son. Mostly nations were 
composed of single families and their descendents, and their fam- 



Part II: The Contrast 81 



ilies and servants, and such as chose to unite with these tribes 
with all that may have been captured or bought. But subjugation 
soon took the place of these simple forms. Then we had the military 
monarch, large armies and vast empires. In later years there are 
fewer wars, and more liberality of government. But there are 
those who still cling to the idea of subjugation, and so no civil 
government is safe where the Secret Lodge System is permitted 
to exist. The civil government has the absolute right to know what 
is going on in its domain. It can not administer justice where its 
wheels are locked by some secret power which the administration 
cannot reach, as in the case of Captain William Morgan's murder. 
Where a civil power is debarred from getting testimony from mem- 
bers of a sworn secret combination, or from any other cause, then 
it cannot arrive at facts and is helpless in the protection of its 
citizens, in the administration of justice, in the execution of law, 
and in the punishment of criminals. It is a state of anarchy. And 
the civil superstructure exists by the mere sufferance of a myster- 
ious, secret power. Innocent men will be condemned, and criminals 
will go free, or be let off with nominal punishment. It is a hidden 
hand constantly dictating, directing, controlling public affairs, 
profiting the few and burdening the many. The system tends to 
favoritism, regardless of merit or desert, and this leads to the cor- 
ruption of public morals, and the subversion of the very ends of 
civil government. Any infamy can be perpetrated under the cover 
of secretism, as the revolt of the state in 1861, and the debasement of 
silver in 1873, and the treachery of Arnold in 1780, and the de- 
liberate murder of Captain William Morgan in 1826, the murder 
cf William McKinley in 1901, and the murder of King Charles I 
of Portugal in 1908. Jesuitism, one of the major secret orders, 
has been expelled from various nations on account of its dangerous 
character as a secret order. Secret disloyalty and anarchism be- 
long to the Secret Lodge System. These wicked elements can not 
live in the open light of day. They must seek the dark conclave to 
carry on their disastrous work. A duplicate government in the 
home, the Church or the state, or in business, always works mis- 
chief. They are unnecessary and burdensome. What goes to the 



82 The Secret Lodge System 



Secret Lodge for its expenses and time, and attention, is always 
needed in the home, or the Church, or the civil government, or in 
legitimate business, or in common benevolence. It is a leech, 
and disturbing element, in the body politic. It is the scourge of 
society, and the covert of criminality. Whenever men work under 
the cover of permanent organized secretism, you may thereby as- 
suredly know that there is some evil design at the bottom. A man 
who is honest and pure has no need of secrets, except to protect 
himself from thieves, rogues and liars, and in this case he has no 
call for the assistance of ten sworn men to help him keep the se- 
cret as to where he puts his purse at nights. The object of all 
secret orders is to get undue advantages over others that can not 
be secured in the ordinary course of ligitimate life. Hence the 
very basis of the whole system in all its forms is that of dishonesty, 
favoritism and partiality, the very antagonism of the basal ele- 
ments of all true civil government. In its very character the whole 
Secret Lodge System is an outlaw, and has no claims whatever on 
any civil government for its existence or protection. Being dan- 
gerous in their incipiency, form and tendency and character they 
ought, therefore, all of them to be abolished by the civil authorities 
in the legislature, judicial and executive departments of the govern- 
ment. They should be excluded from every Christian Church and 
religious society and denomination, and from all educational insti- 
tutions. They are a menace to peace, prosperity and justice, and 
to the stability of government. 



CHAPTER XIV. — THE HUMAN WILL. 

The Will is the free element in God, angels, good and evil, 
and in man. It is something which belongs to all rational intelli- 
gences. It is that endowment which makes them accountable to law, 
order and the higher powers in this life and the life to come. It is 
the earnest of immortality. It is the instinct of freedom, accountabil- 
ity, of judgment to come and of restitution. It is the power which we 
possess of making choice in our minds and actions between different 



Part II: The Contrast 83 



things. It is an element of freedom. It is denned as "that faculty 
of the mind by which we determine either to do or forbear an ac- 
tion; the fauclty which is exercised in deciding, among two or more 
objects which, one or more, we shall embrace or pursue. The will 
is influenced or directed by the judgment. The understanding or 
reason compares different objects, which operate as motives, the 
judgment determines which is preferable, and the will decides which 
to pursue. In other words, we reason with respect to the value or 
importance of things; we then judge which is to be preferred, and, 
if we act as reasonable creatures, we will to take the most valu- 
able. If our information is inadequate, if our judgment is not 
properly directed, if our reason is clouded or defective, then we 
may be easily misled to take or choose that which is less valuable 
or essentially wrong. "These are all different operations of the 
mind, soul, or intellectual part of man, angels and God. If the 
mind or soul be directed by prejudice, passion, selfishness, covet- 
ousness or an arbitrary power, then it loses its normal attitude, 
and is in a state of subordination, as the slave who is robbed of 
his freedom. The true action of the Will lies in the highest sphere 
of intelligence to which any being can attain at the time of its 
action; and this depends on instruction, persuasion and the convic- 
tion of truth. The will is not normal when it is blindly led. The 
mind must know and be rationally convinced before the Will can 
properly act. To first blindfold a man and then ask him to choose, 
is an insult to human and divine intelligence. Noah Webster says 
in his unabridged dictionary, that "Great disputes have existed re- 
specting the freedom of the will." And all these have arisen from 
the want of discrimination. Freedom is the normal condition of 
all the lower animals. But they do not always have their free- 
dom. The normal condition of man is that of freedom, but man 
does not in all cases have his freedom. So the normal condition 
of the Will in man is that of freedom. But the Will is not always 
free. It is often under restraint. It is often in a state of abey- 
ance, subordinated and led and controlled by some exterior force, 
as the slave driven to the fields, forests or mines. The Will is 
free, but the opportunity of choice, though made mentally, is prac- 



84 The Secret Lodge System 



tically taken away. The slave chooses, but the master obliges the 
slave to do something else. Now, God never subordinates the will 
of man. He has given to man the faculty of choice, the power of 
choice. God does not hinder man from making his choice, and does 
not arbitrarily prevent man from doing his best to act out that 
choice. Hence God does everything possible by instinct, intuition, 
conscience, reason, nature, judgment, understanding, experience and 
history, the influences of the Divine Spirit, and the Written Word 
to enlighten men, so that they may be enabled to exercise the Will 
in making a Wise Choice, and then he affords strength to carry 
out that decision of the soul. And man then must stand by the re- 
sults. If man at any time finds that he has erred in his judgment 
he is left free to correct his mistakes. This is the characteristic dis- 
tinction between the Divine System and the Secret Lodge System. 
The Divine maintains the Will in its normal condition. The lodge 
subordinates the Will and takes away from man the prime ele- 
ment of his manhood. God gives to man all his divine secrets 
first, and pledges him to fidelity afterward. The Lodge pledges 
a man first by the most horrid imprecations, and then afterward 
commits to him all its puerile, trifling, ridiculous and obscene 
mysteries, and he is pledged antecedently to eternal fidelity to 
whatever may follow, or that has been omitted. There is no room 
for repentance, correction of unwitting errors, or to exercise the 
power of choice. He must now do as the Lodge dictates at his 
peril. The will is in abeyance, and is absolutely subordinate to 
the Will of the Lodge. The subordination of the Will is always a 
long and tedious process. Among the Jesuits it often takes long 
years of training to bring the will under the mastery of the order. 
The celibacy of the priests has this in view. The different degrees 
in all the secret orders has in view the absolute subordination of 
the Will to the higher powers, without the exercise of reason or 
judgment. No new degree can be taken without a new and more 
abject submission. 

God says, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life 
freely." "Whosoever Wills to come after me let him deny himself, 
take up the cross and follow me." Blindly? No. But this way: 



Part II: The Contrast 85 



"And ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you 
Free.'' "If the Son therefore shall make you Free, ye shall be 
Fee indeed." This word indeed is here emphatic, and means in 
reality, in truth, in fact, without doubt, actually, without reserva- 
tion. It is among the strongest terms in the language. On the 
other hand, whom the lodge manipulates and controls and holds, 
will never know what true freedom is, only as he knew it before 
his initiation. As long as a man is bound by the Secret Lodge he 
will always find a foreign finger on his mouth, and a voice dictating 
to him what he shall say and do and what not. The lodge subor- 
dinates man's Will, God maintains in his service the Freedom of 
man's Will. Bearing this thought in mind the reader will be able 
to appreciate the poem, "We are Free." 

In the Revelations of God we find the following words of fre- 
quent occurence in their different forms: "Free" occurs over 80 
times; "liberty," 20 times; "choose, chosen, choice," etc., over 150 
times, making these words in different forms and in their various 
occur, over 250 times, showing the high estimate God places on the 
freedom of the human Will. You will not find this wealth of 
language in the phraseology of the Lodge System. These words 
are scarcely if at all known to the lodge vocabulary, and never in 
the Divine sense. These words "free," "liberty," "choice," and 
other terms of like sense as referring are with the lodge interpre- 
tation in the restrictive sense. "The Secret Lodge System" spells 
abject slavery to the soul, spirit, mind, heart and will of man. 
It is the rival of God on his throne, the defiance of his Divine 
Providence, the antagonist, dissimilarity and corrupter of the true 
Christian Church, and a travesty on true Religion. The Secret 
Lodge System and the Christian System are so diverse in origin, 
character, aim and tendency that you dare not consistently speak 
them together in the same breath only to condemn the one and 
approve the other. The Lodge is the hand maid of all false reli- 
gions, in all the world. The Christian Church is the only and true 
repository and hand maid of the True Religion. And this is demon- 
strated in this contrast. 



86 The Secret Lodge System 



CHAPTER XV. — VARIETIES. 

There is infinite variety in the works of God. It is seen every- 
where in almost every thing. The angels in heaven differ in charac- 
ter, attitude, position and service. But they all agree in loving, 
obeying and serving God. The suns, moons and stars in the space 
above and beyond us differ in magnitude and distances, but in 
certain essentials they are alike. They all bear the impress of the 
Divine Hand. The sky differs at different seasons of the year, 
and the same season. Now it is overcast with clouds, then it is 
brilliant. Again it is covered with haze, but whenever you can gaze 
upon it with unobstructed sight it has the soft, blue tint, so rest- 
ful to the human eye. In the vast forests no two leaves are ever 
found exactly alike. The spires of grass, fruits and flowers and 
vegetables all present bewildering varieties. What varied forms 
among the birds, fishes, insects and lower animals! In all the 
multiplied millions of men, women and children, who have lived, 
who live now and who will live to the end of time, no two, in the 
day of reconing, will be mistaken, the one for the other. We are 
amazed and lost in admiration and wonder. And yet a man is never 
mistaken for a horse, nor will a saint, in the day of accounts, 
ever be mistaken for a sinner. Moses and Miriam, and Joshua, 
and Samuel, and David, and the prophets, and apostles, all had 
personal peculiarities that made them unlike each other. Paul 
was different from all the other early ministers of Christ, and he 
says that these different talents and graces were for the glory of 
God and the benefit of the Church of Jesus Christ and for the 
proper development of mankind. The same person has varied 
moods of mind, in joy, in sorrow, in labor and in rest. Storms 
and calms occur in the mental as well as in the material world. 
In the region of darkness there are varieties. Some are "dumb 
devils," some are "unclean devils," and even Satan transforms 
himself at times into the appearance of "an angel of light,' and 
at others takes the form of a man as in Saul and in Judas. In 
the higher and holier kingdom of God these differences are al- 
ways for an exalted purpose. In the realm of darkness and deceit 



Part II: The Contrast 87 



they are always for an evil purpose. Even when they are overruled 
for good they are denied with a base intention. 

The varieties in the realm of God form a complete whole, and 
manifest infinite wisdom, goodness, mercy, justice and a wonder- 
ful consideration for the welfare and happiness, and proper de- 
velopment of his creatures. They form a free and open field for 
the exercise of all human and angelic faculties. On the other 
hand, in the kingdom of darkness, the varieties are confusing, 
irregular, deforming, hindering, debasing and immoral. Their pur- 
pose is to mar the works of God, mislead men and dishonor the 
Supreme Being. Because they are hidden you never know what is 
their real purpose. 

Like the chameleon they partake of the color of the object upon 
which they locate or fasten themselves. In Africa they are canni- 
bals. In China they are Joss worshippers. Among the Hindoos 
they are Brahmans. In Turkey they are Moslems, and in Utah 
they are Mormons, and in Christian countries they are "Knights 
of the Cross" or any form of religion to suit the occasion. They 
were variable among the ancients in "the mysteries." They had 30,- 
000 gods all agreeing in idolatry," and yet abnormal as to the true 
religion. They even went so far as to build an altar to "the Un- 
known God," and "him they ignorantly worshipped." The main 
characteristic of those who follow the Lodge System is that they 
are quiscent. There is always something back, something not 
said, something silent, not sounded, even on the witness stand in 
civil court, when certain conditions meet. They are sly, cunning, 
adroit, careful, guarded. The finger often touches the mouth, in 
indication of silence. It is the opposite of openness, frankness, 
honest simplicity. They differ in names, but they are a synomosy, 
and Mason is a synonym for the Secret Lodge System. Jesuitism is 
another term that stands, not only for a particular form, but for 
"the system." They are leaders and characteristic. They all up- 
hold or lead into a false form of religion. There are quiescent 
and quintessent Masons. The quiescents all are silent on the sub- 
ject. They may or may not belong. They may or may not be 
members of the order. . But they are silent. They never commit 



88 The Secret Lodge System 



themselves. They move in the dark. They may say "no," or "yes," 
or "I have nothing to say." They are models of discretion. These 
quiscents are of different classes: 

1. Wilhelm Slotterwent is a quiescent. But he is peculiar. 
He is a Gospel minister, an eloquent man of influence, and a fine 
writer, very genial and companionable. He travels extensively. 
I am intimately acquainted with him. He is a member of a Church 
utterly opposed to the Lodge System. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, but in a hidden way. He denies his connec- 
tion. In a Church trial it could not be proven that he belonged 
to the order. He neither affirmed nor denied his connection with 
the order. In this respect he was quiescent. But beyond this 
he defended the orders. He lauded them to the skies. He ridiculed 
the Church for its attitude, and did all he could to break down 
the rule. He thus lived a double life, and acted a lie. When 
this man died the Masons brought him home and buried him with 
Masonic honors. This man never displayed a badge, never marched 
in the processions, never was seen associated in the public lodge 
meetings. He and the whole fraternity conspired together to keep 
his disloyal connection quiescent. 

2. Simonton belongs to the Lodge. He does not deny his 
connection. He associates with the members. He meets with 
them in their open and close meetings. He marches in their pro- 
cessions. But he is quiet. He never introduces the subject. He 
never joins in any conversation on the question in any public way. 
He evades all questions in relation to his attitude or judgment as 
to the orders. He is quiscent. 

3. Quaint does not belong, but it is inferred from his conduct 
that he favors the orders, for he is intimate in his associations 
and in social and business life, having evidently studied the sys- 
tem, he practices the Lodge Methods. He is sly, covert, hidden 
crafty, cunning, artful, underhanded, wily and stealty as the wea- 
sel or the fox. But he is silent. He does not talk on the Lodge 
question. He does not condemn or acquit. He is quiescent. 

4. Mr. Guy Timid is not a Mason, and is opposed to the 
system, in his mind and heart, but he is too cowardly to say any- 



Part II: The Contrast 89 



thing against the wrong. It is to his interest, so he thinks, to 
keep quiet. So he is quiescent. 

5. Thomas Indifferent has no conviction in the matter. He 
doesn't care a fig whether they are right or wrong. He never looked 
into the question and doesn't intend to take the trouble to do so. 
He has no disposition to trouble himself in these affairs. He 
has enough to do otherwise. He is a jelly-fish. The lodges can 
use him as they choose. He never revolts at any thing unless it 
touches his self interest. He will never harm the system. He is a 
cypher and can be used any time to fill a vacant place to augment 
the value of significant Masonic figures. He gets places where a 
man of conviction, honesty and sincerity is designedly rejected. 
Place and pay are more to some men than principle. They are 
adaptable and adjustable and will fit any place assigned them. 
Like dough they always take the form of the vessel in which they 
are placed. 

6. Mr. Jack Simplicity does not think deeply. He does not 
investigate for himself. He is attracted by outside appearances. 
He readily sees advantages and benefits coming from any source, 
or by any menas. He is easily blind-folded and misled. He is 
guided, not by his own judgment, but by those whom he regards 
as his superiors. Numbers have a great influence on his mind. 
He yields easily to external influences. Like the innocent sheep., 
he follows his leaders, whether to the pasturage, the washing pool, 
the clipping table or the slaughter house. He is sincere, and sim- 
ple hearted, and means to do no wrong, but his standard of equity 
and justice is the opinion and judgment of others. He is easily 
made to believe that wrong is right and that right is wrong. 
If the leader yells, without any reason, he is arrested and changes 
his course. He drifts with the current and can never be depended 
upon to stem a tide. He goes with the tide, and not against it. 

7. Primrose Incipient. This man favors the Lodge System. 
He has studied the system. He understands its basis, character- 
istics, methods and purposes. He knows its deep infamy. And this 
is the reason he admires it. It is congenial to his base nature. 
The more you say against the Lodge, the more he is attached to 



90 The Secret Lodge System 



the system. He drinks in the condemnation with avidity. And 
this condemnation is to him, the chief, the primal indorsement. 
He is fitted for its depths already. He has just been hunting such 
a thing. He is ardently in favor of the form of organization, the 
methods of work, the principles upon which it is based, the ends- 
to be attained, the obligations and the associations. He is en- 
amored of the whole system and will scruple at nothing in the sys- 
tem or its developments. The more you array argument and logic 
against them, the more is he determined to join the orders. And 
he simply abides his opportunity to enter the domain of the Lodge. 
But it is all within himself. He is quiescent. He secretly gains 
admittance to the Secret Lodge. 

8. Jonas Conservative. This is rather an exceptional char- 
acter. He is careful and considerate. He thinks that all good in 
all things ought to be conserved with the vessels in which they 
are found. He does not approve of radicalism. "If any good at 
all is found in any system, then preserve the whole thing for the 
sake of the good that is in it." This is his doctrine. He says, 
"It is best to let well enough alone." His idea of "well enough" 
is always the present order of things. He is in the Lodge 
System for the good there is in it. The evil he avoids. He does 
not see that by his attitude, his accociation and his influence he 
is indorsing the evil. He assumes to be wiser than God who says, 
"Come out from among them, and be ye separate." 

9. Finally, we have the Very Honorable Quintessent Mason. 
He is the Mason by name, nature and identity. He is a Mason 
in mind, heart and life. He is a Mason every day for good or for 
evil. He takes in with approval the whole system in all of its 
ramifications. The System is more to him than Soul, Home, 
Friends, Church or State. He is simply absorbed in the System. 
It is his hope for this life and the life to come. This thing is his 
hope, his home, his religion, his politics, his future. It is his 
all and in all, and everything else is subordinate and subservient. 
Every thing must be done through this channel, or in a way so as 
not in the least to disturb this affiliation. This is the test and the 
touch-stone. He will live and labor, and die and be buried by 



Part II: The Gontrast 



91 



these insignia. He is a Quintescent. He has passed all the above 
stages and has settled down in the heart of the system. It is his 
life, his health, his being. It is his absorbing thought. Under the 
most searching analysis he is Quiescent. He disdains to answer, 
but goes on his way confirmed in his folly. The Christian System 
has no such variety. Its variations are of a different character. 
They lie in different plains and subserve different ends. The Divine 
Varieties all harmonize with the Truth. They are conducive to 
the development of the truth. They all originate in the Divine 
comprehension, and lead to the most gracious results. They are 
based in fixed laws, and not on a sliding scale. They all lie on 
the plain of honesty, fair dealing, harmony, beauty and utility. 
They form a complete whole interpenetrated by the Divine Life. 
The progress of human and angelic life and character in the Divine 
plan is ever upward. From the lowest stage of society the sub- 
jects emerge more into the Divine image of Godliness, Righteous- 
ness and True Holiness. They are removed farther and farther 
from ignorance, sin and darkness into the state of Divine knowl- 
edge, obedience and light. Harmonic relations exist among the 
divergences. Where discordance is seen it arises from elements 
foreign to the Divine mind. There is no contradiction or incon- 
sistency in the whole system which God has established. The 
varieties are natural and not artificial as in the Lodge System, with 
its degrees, preferences, exclusions, and partialities, and artificial 
mysteries, idle ceremonies, foolish imitiations, paid promotions, 
secretive movements, its bald assumptions, its extra-judicial obli- 
gations, its blasphemous titles, and its clandestine assaults upon the 
pure Doctrine of God in Christ, and in its mongrel mixture of all re- 
ligions. There is no Quiescent Christianity. 

There is no remedy for this fatal delusion, except the teach- 
ing of Divine Truth, Radical and Racial Honesty, and the Divine 
Communion. 



CHAPTER XVI. — THE OATH OF GOD. 

The person, the lips, the word, the vow, the promise, the 



92 The Secret Lodge System 



obligation, the pledge, the oath are all sacred things. They are 
allied and all stand or fall together. They are cognate to truth, 
life and existence. They go up or down together. They are not 
to be lightly esteemed. To trifle with one of these things 
is to trifle with all of them. To missue one or abuse 
one is to misuse or abuse all of them. To prostitute 
one of them is to prostitute all of them. The liberty of the per- 
son involves the liberty of the organs of speech. To bind one is to 
bind all. They are a groupe so aflinitively related, that if you touch 
one you send a thrill through all of them. You enslave the tongue 
and you enslave the person, the life, the soul, the mind, the body. 
There are only four powers in the universe that have any 
right to bind the soul under an oath. These are: 1st. The 
Almighty God. 2nd. The Person — him or her self. 3rd. The 
True Church of the Living God. 4th. The Properly Constituted 
Openly Constituted Civil Government. And in all these cases the 
Oath must be intelligently and willingly taken and administered, 
and with the utmost solemnity. And anything that interfers with 
the oath is to be discarded. Any thing that binds a person from 
telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, is 
an abuse, a perversion, and a nullification of the character, aim, 
purpose and end of the oath. The oath is not admissible under the 
ordinary affairs of life. Yet everything that a man says in any 
relation should be the unalloyed truth. One is not permitted to 
lie because he is not under oath. The oath is the most sacred 
averment known to men, angels or God. From this word oath 
words grade down thorugh the vow, the promise, the obligation, 
to the ordinary assertion and common conversation. But the thread 
of truth is to be predominant in all these relations. A man's 
word should always be as good as his oath, so far as that word 
reaches. The difference between a word and an oath is that a word 
may not tell it all, but an oath brings out every thing a man knows 
of the subject under consideration. The highest and most sacred 
form of attestation is that of the "Ho orkos" of the oath. This 
has been so considered by all nations and peoples, in all ages 
from time immemorial. "A false oath is called perjury." — Webster. 



Part II: The Contrast 93 



The oath is an appeal to God as to the truth of what we assert. 
All such appeals in the common affairs of life are blasphemy. God 
attests the truthfulness of his revelations to man, by an appeal to 
his own infinitude and perfection of character. We personally 
consecrate ourselves to God in mind, heart, life and property, in an 
irrevocable vow or oath, depending on and praying to God for wis- 
dom or strength to fulfill the oath, and appeal to God for the recti- 
tude of our motive and conduct. 

In marriage we take an oath of fidelity to each other through 
life, under the sanction and administration and record of the Church 
and state. This oath is annulled by the infidelity of either party. 
If I annul my oath to God in consecration it eventuates in my 
eternal condemnation. Temporary relapses are forgiven on true 
Repentance and Reformation. The same is true in marriage. There 
is forgiveness in true Repentance and Reformation. But persis- 
tence in sin is persistent condemnation. The marriage of either 
party while the other is living precludes Repentance, Reformation 
and reconciliation. 

The vow, promise pledge or oath taken on joining the Church 
of Jesus Christ, is an appeal to God as to the rectitude of our 
motives, desires and purposes, and conduct. It is divine and 
sacred. It is an outward expression of what has already taken 
place in our mind, heart and conscience. It is the public profession 
of the Christ ordained of God as a condition of our salvation, and 
attaches us formally to all of God's people, and obliges us to fidel- 
ity in all the duties of the Christian life. This oath is binding 
forever. By the Church here I mean the whole body of true be- 
lievers in Christ Jesus. To bind any person by a vow, promise 
or oath, to any denominational form of faith is a foolish and crimi- 
nal proceeding. Such an attitude precludes all possibility of prog- 
ress, advancement or improvement, and is the essence of Judaism, 
Romanism and secretism. It would condemn Paul the apostle, 
the sainted John, the Evangelist, Zwinglius, Luther, Wesley, and all 
the progressive spirits of all ages, Moses, David, and the prophets 
would go down under such condemnation. "Once a Mason al- 
ways a Mason," strikes a death blow to all human and divine free- 



94 The Secret Lodge System 

dom, and is the basis of eternal tyranny. God, while- he remains 
the same in his essential character, is constantly making changes 
in the infinite unfolding of his wisdom, his power and his work. 
Truth takes or infinitude of forms, but is essentially the same. 
The civil government has the divine right to administer the oath 
in the evolution of truth and the administration of justice among 
men. The constant practice in the courts of civil justice of putting 
persons on oath, and then by questions, objections and prohibitions 
guiding witnesses along certain lines, is a sad perversion of the 
very purpose of an oath, which is to- bring out the truth, the Whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth, in connection with the whole 
subject under discussion. The purpose of the oath is to bring out 
something and not to hide something or to keep something secret. 
Apart from these five powers, God, the person, the family, the 
Church and the state, there are none others endowed with the 
right to administer the oath. All other oaths are extra-judicial, 
and are therefore criminal and invalid, and are to be repented of, 
abandoned, and the injustice done by them restored, rectified and 
remedied. 

Therefore the whole Secret Lodge System lies under condem- 
nation. 1st. Because the system has no right to administer oaths, 
vows, pledges, promises. 2nd. They violate the essence of an 
oath which is to develope, bring out or develope the truth, or 
expose the falsity of the thing in hand, to set the thing in the 
light. 3rd. The oaths of the Lodge System are designed to hide, 
keep secret, cover up, promote something in the dark, in a hidden 
way. 4th. The object of the lodge oath is to oblige you to actu- 
ally and absolutely refuse to tell what you know. It is the perver- 
sion and nullification of the sacred oath. It is abnormal, and is 
a monstrosity. The sacred oath obliges us to tell the truth, the 
whole truth, and nothing but the truth, the Secret Lodge oath 
obliges us, under the severest penalties to "ever conceal and never 
reveal." The two oaths are antagonisms. Every man, woman and 
child, therefore, who has taken the Secret Lodge Oath, has laid in 
himself or herself, or itself the basis of being "a perjured villian." 
He or she is already an incipietn "perjured villian." The only 



Part II: The Contrast 95 



safety is in Repentance, Confession and Reformation. It is not 
the man who sees his error, repents of his sin, confesses his fault, 
and abandons his wicked associations, who is "the perjured villian/' 
but the man who blindly or maliciously clings to his error. The 
latter is the incipient or the actual "perjured villian." The oath 
of God is open, true, just and honest. It looks to the development 
of the truth, to open hidden things to the eyes of men. The oaths 
of the Secret Lodge System are dark, hidden, damnable, designed 
to cover up, hide, conceal, never reveal and bind the soul to silence, 
to denial of the truth or perversion, or evasion. 'O Orkos (the 
oath) of God and the oaths of the Secret Lodge System are as 
wide apart as Heaven and Hell. They are from different sources, 
and have different and opposite purposes in view. The one is 
light, the other is darkness. The divine oath binds the soul to 
the utterance and action of Truth, the other binds the soul to si- 
lence, evasion, falsehood, deception and wrong doing. The Ma- 
son must keep the secrets of his lodge brother, murder and trea- 
son not excepted. The whole system from its incipiency in its 
mildest forms in the minor orders, to its ultimatum in the higher 
orders, as in Masonry, Jesuitism, Klu-Klux, Molly McGuires, 
Mafia and Thugs, tends directly away from God and Divine Truth. 
As the trickling rivulet in the mountain swells to the mighty 
Amazon on the plains, so the minor secret orders all merge into the 
mighty current of the major streams and become one in drifting 
the world on into the dark ocean of eternal darkness and ruin. 
Awake, O Zion! Put on thy strength, and stand on the solid Rock 
of Eternal Truth and Righteousness. Amen. 



CHAPTER XVII. — THE SACRED SABBATH. 

This is a basal question. It stands at the forefront of civiliza- 
tion, and is a necessity in all existence. The Day of Rest is a sub- 
ject that can not be ignored with impunity. This theme is broad, 
and high, and deep. It touches every other question, and is of 
universal application to God, angels, men, animals, vegetation, 



96 The Secret Lodge System 

the ground and to machinery. The Day of Rest is fundamental, 
and inheres in the nature of all things. It touches time in its 
unfoldings, and enters into the vast eternity. It is basal in all 
true advancement in physics, metaphysics, morality and spiritual 
life, in civic and social relations. It touches personal health, in- 
tegrity, prosperity and happiness. All these things in an elemental 
sense, lie in the Day of Rest. Argue as we may, debate long and 
loud, we must finally come to this conclusion. It is inevitable. If 
there were nothing in the Bible on the subject nature, experience 
and reason will teach us the absolute necessity of the Day of Rest. 
We are constantly reminded of the fact. It is wisdom in us to recog- 
nize this truth and act in obediance to the voice of experience, rea- 
son, nature and of God as they all speak with one accord with an em- 
phasis that cannot be mistaken by the dullest mind. These all de- 
mand what the Day of Rest affords — rest of body, equilibrium of 
mind, Divine communion for the soul. This day points to the elevation 
of character, the building of a true moral character, just personal 
relations, physical recuperation, the deepening of spiritual concep- 
tions, and a loftier contemplation of the work of Deity, than we can 
obtain in the drudgery of human life. These results can not be at- 
tained without the Day of Rest. Thus this day becomes vital and 
primal. To ignore this day is to ignore all that is valuable in 
existence. Hence the Sabbath Law, including Rest and Labor, 
stands in the heart of the ten commandments. The Day of Rest 
is allied to the six days of Labor. Rest and Labor are both placed 
in the Fourth Commandment. It is one Day's Rest, and six days 
of Labor. All rest and no labor, or all labor and no rest, are, in 
either case, ruin. This is not an absolute law, unless both parts 
are taken together. We must both rest and labor. But the Day 
of Rest admits of labor during this interval of respite. And 
the days of labor admit of rest at intervals during these days. 
There are to be intervals of labor in the rest day, and intervals 
of rest during the days of labor. Herein lies danger in both direc- 
tions of excess of labor and excess of rest. This confuses many 
minds, The unthinking will say "If I can do something on the rest 
day why may I not do all things? Because this is not necessary, 



Part II: The Contrast 97 



and rest is an absolute necessity. If I must labor six days, why may 
I not labor on the seventh day? Answer: Because rest is a neces- 
ity." If I may rest at intervals on the six days why may I not 
rest continuously. Labor is necessary to gain a livlihood and main- 
tain a healthy condition of the body. It is not honest to live at 
the expense and labor of others. Many find it difficult to answer 
these inquiries. Hence confusion reigns. Rest and Labor are both 
deep questions of philosophy, reason and experience. The Law of 
Rest and Labor is based on a deep physical, mental and moral 
principle. The solution has been the evolution of the ages. They 
are found to be the demands of nature, experience and reason. 
We may fly out in any direction we may choose, and if we do not 
fall on the wing we will always come back to the point that Rest 
and Labor in due proportion at stated intervals, are necessary to 
existence, prosperity, morality, health and happiness. The man who 
feasts always and to excess, or who does not eat at all, we know 
dies soon, and dies amid great suffering. The man who sleeps 
always, or who does not sleep at all becomes a sort of nonentity, 
or an inmate of the mad house. He who farms his land constantly 
without resting or enriching the soil, or who does not farm his 
land at all, comes to want. The heart takes rest between the pulsa- 
tions. The earth enjoys rest in the recurrence of the seasons, and 
in its spheroidal revolutions around the sun. The water takes rest 
in solid bodies, in snow and ice, in the bosom of the lake, in 
serene of the quiet ocean undisturbed by the storms, and in the 
clouds that lie at anchor in the skies. Action is seen in the on- 
ward flow of the rivers, the rising and falling of the tides, the 
waves of the sea, the floating of the clouds, the exhalations of the 
mist and the down pour of the rain. Thus all through nature we 
see rest and action. This is Divine. It belongs to God. It is 
given to man. It is a boon of everlasting benefit — to Rest and to 
Labor in the proportion in which God has ordained. 

The contrast between the Lodge and the Church on the Sab- 
bath question is very sharp and distinct. With the Church of 
Christ the Sabbath is a distinct and Sacred Day; with the Lodge the 
day is merely accommodational. In many cases the day is dese- 



98 The Secret Lodge System 



crated with impunity. The Church regards the Sabbath as a sacred 
institution; it is not so regarded in the Lodge System. The reli- 
gion of Masonry is of that nature in which all nations agree. In 
Jesuitism the doctrine is taught, "All things to all men that you 
may win some, and that one is justified in doing evil that good may 
come to the cause which Jesuitism espouses." These are the two 
leading orders in the secret system. All the rest follow suit, how- 
ever far they may be off from the main trunks. In Christian 
countries, if any day at all is kept, it will be most likely the first 
day of the week, not because the system demands it, but from other 
considerations. The Greek Masons will most likely keep Monday. 
In Persia the Masons will observe Tuesday. In Assyria it will be 
Wednesday. In Egypt the day will be Thursday. Among the Turks, 
the Sacred day will be Friday. And where the Jewish religion pre- 
vails, then the Mason shifts himself to Saturday. Thus the Lodge 
is constructed on a sliding scale. No special regard is had to any 
one day, but any day to suit the exigencies of the occasion. Position, 
power and pay are more than piety or principle. The Christian 
System is not on an accommodational or sliding scale. It has a 
definite and distinct day for rest and Divine Worship and this is 
the First Sabbath, the Day God set apart at Creation, this was the 
first Sabbath, the Day God rested, the first full day of man's ex- 
istence on the face of the earth, and the beginning of man's week, 
the beginning of human chronology, (changed to the 7th day 
among the Jews.) The first Sabbath was the day Christ arose from 
the dead. This was the day the Roman Idolaters worshipped the 
great luminary in the sky, from which we have the name Sunday 
to designate the first day of the week. This mian sabbaton of 
the Greek new Testament, was the day the early Christians wor- 
shipped the Son of God. Hence some advocate that the first day 
of the week should be spelled Sonday. The Lodge System says, 
"Any day, it does not matter." The Christian System says, the 
day to keep holy is "the First Sabbath." This one and same doc- 
trine is taught always and everywhere in all ages, by all well in- 
structed Christians. There is no sliding scale in morals, doctrine, 
or institutions among the children of the most High God. The Sab- 



Part II: The Contrast 99 



bath, to the true child of God is the first day of the week in the 
longitude where he resides. It is the Day of the sun, it is true, 
but not the day to worship the sun in the sky, but the Son of God 
who was on earth and is now ascended into the heavens. Christ- 
ians do not shift to any day in the week to suit national prejudices, 
but follow the divine order and keep the first Sabbath which, is the 
first Day of the week. This doctrine will be more fully amplified 
in a work we hope to issue in the future. 



CHAPTER XVIII. — ULTIMATELY. 

Three things are averred in favor of the secret lodges: 

1. That they incorporate a great deal of good in their or- 
ganizations. 

2. That many eminent men hold membership in the orders. 

3. That the orders upon the whole, or in the aggregate, do 
a great amount of good. 

We concede all this. Every fair minded man who has studied 
the subject will readily make the same concession. Does it, there- 
fore, follow that we must embrace, defend or endure them? Not 
necessarily. There are other things more vital. The same three 
commendable things may be said of the Judiaism, Polytheism, 
Mohammedanism, of Mormonism, and of other isms. Must we, there- 
fore, embrace and uphold all these things on account of their com- 
mendations? No truly enlightened man will assume such an atti- 
tude. And yet any of the above systems, bating their secretism, 
is to be preferred to the Secret Lodge System, which vitiates all 
of them. Secretism is the worst thing in the universe of God. 
It is the Domain of the Infernal Spirit, whom some people worship. 
As much can be said in favor of Satan himself, as of the Secret 
Lodge System, yea more, for 1st, Satan had a high and holy origin, 
having come as a pure and holy being from the plastic hand of God. 
2nd, Satan is of very eminent standing among the highest orders 
of angels. 3rd, Satan is a being of vast influence, having drawn 
with him from heaven legions of angels, and now commands the 



100 The Secret Lodge System 



major part of mankind. 4th, Satan has a massive intellect and mar- 
velous knowledge, having had the opportunities of, perhaps, over 
6,000 years for improvement in his divices and mechinations. 5th, 
Satan believes in God, and trembles, he knows and confesses Christ, 
he attends divine service and communicates with God. At least he 
did so in the days of Job and of Christ, and the evidences are that 
he does so yet. 6 th, Satan has a fine appearance, a winning address, 
is very magnetic and approachable, and his regalia is in the richest 
style, even as "an angel of light," and he has great advantages to 
offer those who "fall down and worship him." "All these things will 
I give thee." And this was no idle boast as some are wont to 
assert. The story that Satan is a hideous monster with horns, and 
claws on his hands and toes, a tail with an arrow at the end, and 
is covered with hair, is all fiction, got up by corrupt priests, to 
frighten children, women, ignorant men, and to amuse the more 
intelligent of his followers. I think Satan himself had a hand in 
the invention so that he might approach all these people in a splen- 
did guise, without detection, so that if possible he may "deceive 
the very elect." No one unless he has the divine .intuitions awak- 
ened by the presence of the Holy Spirit, can detect his approach, 
disguised "in the livery of heaven," which was stolen from the 
courts above. The finest art of Satan is displayed in "the Secret 
Lodge System." He contemplates this device with a great swell- 
ing of pride. He is conscious of the fact that this system of dark- 
ness is "His Masterpiece." With it he intends, for a time at least, 
to outwit God. It is evident that he has thus outwitted the major 
part of mankind. It comprehends within the system, the essential 
essence of all wickedness. And however much good there may be 
connected with it organically, incidentally or practically, yet essen- 
tially and ultimately the system is evil, only evil, and that contin- 
ually in its character and tendency. The system defiles everything 
it touches, nothing will cure this evil but the life giving element in 
the blood of Christ; and this implies Repentance, Reformation, Res- 
titution and abandonment of the System. "He that covereth his 
sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh them 
shall have mercy." 



Part II: The Contrast 101 



The Secret Lodge System is the hold and the method of every 
unclean and unholy and wicked thing in the universe. The hypo- 
crite, the liar, the rogue, the thief, the adulterer, and all other 
forms of iniquity choose the secret method to accomplish their 
evil purposes. They shun the light of day. They work in a hidden 
way. They use craft, low art, sinister devices and indirect meth- 
ods. The counterfeiter never does his work in the open. When 
men begin to hide, to work in the dark, to meet in secret, under 
vows, promises, oaths and penalties of secretism, you may be as- 
sured that there is something sinister in view, some undue advan- 
tage sought over others. Truth, honesty, fairness, uprightness, and 
righteousness never need the veil of organized permanent secretism. 
"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, 
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were 
evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh 
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved, or discovered. But 
he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be 
made manifest, that they are wrought in God." All works of dark- 
ness and sin seek a covering. The deeper the sin, the denser the 
covering is made. Secretism in all its phases belongs to the realm 
of darkness. It seeks undue advantage over others. Its very in- 
ception and construction betray unfairness, overreaching and selfish- 
ness. It is the badge and essence of soul slavery. The lower de- 
grees are ignorant of and subordinate to the higher degrees. It is 
a system of arbitrary inequality. It is the dominance of the few 
over the many under the secredness of an oath which the orders 
have no right to administer. All the minor orders are the dupes 
and the tools of the major orders. As all true Christians are under 
the headship of Christ who is their leader by his Spirit, His Word 
and his Divine Providences; so on the other hand all the members 
of the Lodge System are under the headship, leadership, subordi- 
nation and dominance of Satan, his minions among men and his 
legions of angels. The militant Church of Christ is on earth. The 
triumphant Church is in the spirit realm. So Satan's realm is part 
on earth and part in the region of darkness. But his majesty's 
army is well organized and well drilled. He treads with the still- 



102 



The Secret Lodge System 



ness of death, and hides his tracks wherever he can. He strikes 
with a deft hand from an ambush. He is alert where the work of 
God is going on. As in the days of the incarnation, so now they 
acknowledge Christ for effect, but they ask him to fall down and 
worship them and conserve their interests, to worship them and 
be subordinate to them. The defection of the churches from Christ, 
the deadness and formality in religion, the want of spiritual vitality, 
and the slow progress of the Church in bringing the world to Christ 
are due to the affiliation of the ministry and laity to the worldly 
elements of the Lodge System. It is paralyzing the power of the 
Church. Men and Gospel ministers are selling their Divine Birth- 
right for a mess of pottage. They are going after leasing vows, 
and have put themselves under the time-serving policy of Satan 
for the applause and rewards of the world. As Baalam loved the 
wages of unrighteousness and thus fell from the favor of God, so 
now the Church loves the same wages, and under her shadow grows 
up every species of iniquity. Drunkenness, fraud, uncleanness, Sab- 
bath desecration, public plunder, blasphemy, greed, covetousness, 
perjury and murder go on in an increasing ratio. 

No person, family, church, civil government, or honest financial 
business is safe so long as the Secret Lodge System exists in our 
midst. The fairest hopes may be blasted in a moment of time. 
When you least expect it, the secret avalanche may fall. A house 
divided against itself can not stand. This government could not 
exist half slave and half free. The Secret Lodge System is a Secret 
Monarchy. A Monarchy and a Republic can not continue to exist 
in the same territory. One or the other must give way. Which 
shall it be? It remains to be seen. We are verging toward a hid- 
den Monarchy under the guise of a Republic. The financial system 
of this country is rapidly begetting a monied aristocracy which 
will rule this nation with a hidden, iron hand. It is becoming very 
difficult for a poor man to rise by honest methods and personal in- 
dustry. The Gospel of Christ will never win the world as long as 
the Secret Lodge System prevails. The good in the System is but 
a bait to cover the essential evil. 

It is said that there are Jesuits in all the relations in life in 



Part II: The Contrast 



103 



all the countries of the world, that they are subordinate to the 
hidden Pope, or head of the order, and constantly report to him and 
get directions from him. I do not know how this is, but I am quite 
satisfied in my own mind that there is scarcely, if any, church or- 
ganization in this country that does not have secretists on the rolls 
of the membership, and by this means the autonomy of the churches 
is destroyed. 

Whatever there may be of intermediate good in the Lodge Sys- 
tem, I am satisfied, from long study, observation and experience, 
that the whole thing in its character, form and tendency ultimately 
is evil, evil only, and that constantly, that the good it does do is 
vitiated by motive, form and association, that it is foreign to the 
Christian instinct, and is not acceptable to God, that it is deleter- 
ious to the individual, injurious to the simple atmosphere of the 
home, corrupting to the Church of Jesus Christ, unfair and dis- 
honest in commercial relations, dangerous in the state government, 
and productive of arbitrary distinctions in social relations, and there- 
fore deserves the deepest execrations of God, angels and men. It 
is an abnormal monster, adroitly trying to imitate the divine order, 
along certain lines as a decoy, while basely and unscrupulously nulli- 
fying the divine arrangement and purpose. It is a hideous monster 
clothed in the habilaments of Heaven to draw men in their minds, 
hearts, souls and lives away from God. It is so black with deeds of 
darkness that the life-blood of Christ cannot wash the stains away. 
The only remedy is its utter destruction, root, branch, leaves, flowers 
and fruit, and the utter wiping out of the last vestige of its whole 
influence. 



PART III. 



EMINENT OPINION 



Introduction. 



The author is not by any means alone in his thought, feeling, 
sentiment, opinion, expression, association and action on the ques- 
tion of the Secret Lodge System. 

The Subject has been studied by many other persons, and sub- 
stantially the same conclusions have been reached. Some of the 
finest and most comprehensive, and most acute minds of the ages 
have carefully canvassed this problem, and have ended where the 
writer has in discarding the whole system. 

While mere human opinion does not permanently settle any 
question, yet it is wise to give attention to those who have given 
years of careful and conscientious and disenterested study and in- 
vestigation to any topic. We reach the most definite and abiding, 
and rational results by thought, investigation, reason and judgment 
upon things under consideration. 

In the former part of this work I have given abstract and con- 
cret reasoning based upon known facts. The arguments adduced 
may be responded to by those whose prejudices lead them to a 
contrary attitude of mind, but the position taken by the writer can 
not be successfully met nor overcome. The argument is laid in 
eternal Truth, and will endure when the heavens roll away, when 
the present form of all exterior things on earth are changed, and 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 105 



when "the new heavens and the new earth appear." Quibblers may 
pick at the book, skeptics may ignore the work, and those with 
biased minds may arbitrarily refuse to be convinced, but neverthe- 
less the Truth in its purity stands. It is not pretended that the book 
in the absolute sense is perfect. This can be affirmed only of God 
and of his perfected works. But the book basically and substantially 
is True. It is sincere and honest. There is no conscious appeal 
to prejudice, or bigotry, or partisan zeal, or unholy rivalry, or in- 
human selfishness. The aim has been to view the question from a 
high and holy plain, not from a lone, narrow and selfish vale. In 
this part of the work we wish to present the views of some others 
who have given attention to the subject. 



CHAPTER I. — 3IOSES, THE MAN OF GOD. 

1. Moses was one among the most eminent men that ever 
lived, and had one hundred and twenty years of actual life and 
experience. He was educated in "all the wisdom of the Egyptians," 
was heir to the throne, was a military genius, was the founder of 
the most characteristic and enduring religion of his age, and com- 
posed five if not six books, yet existing and the wonder and admira- 
tion of all ages. It is the judgment of the writer that Moses is 
the author of the book of Job. 

Now what is the attitude of Moses on the Secret Lodge ques- 
tion? His whole life is an open book. There is no evidence that he 
held membership in any secret order. When he killed a man he 
tells it. When he made mistakes he does not hide them. There 
is no provision in any of his writings for the organization or ex- 
istence of any sort of secret society. When he took in hand to 
deliver Israel, he did not institute an "underground railway" or 
organize a secret lodge, but he went about the work openly before 
all the nation. He forbids the very foundatios of all secret organiza- 
tions. He says, "O my soul come not thou into their secret; unto 
their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united; for in their anger 
they slew a man, and in their self will they digged down a wall," 



106 The Secret Lodge System 



or did a personal injury to their neighbors. The Secret Lodge 
System in its very nature and attitude does an injury to all who 
do not belong. They killed the man Capt. Wm. Morgan, and some 
of the orders make a business of murder, as the Thugs, the Nihil- 
ists and the Mafia, and they are all tinctured with that tendency. 
Take the Trades Unions as an instance. How many men have they 
murdered! "Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do 
evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce 
with an oath, and it shall be hid from him; when he knoweth of 
it, then he shall be guilty in one of these." This precept cuts the 
foundation out from under every secret order in existence and shows 
distinctly and definitely the attitude of Moses on this subject. 
Moses permitted no secret order in his realm either "to do evil or 
to do good." If the thing be evil, then it is an evil to hide it. If 
the thing be good, then it is a good thing to make it known. Either 
good or evil, he is guilty in one or the other. If it be a good order, 
then why are you hiding it? If it be an evil order, we can see a 
reason for the secret oath, in the sinfulness of the thing. The 
idea of a good secret order, is an absurdity and a contradiction in 
terms. This was the doctrine of Moses. 



CHAPTER II. — THE PSALMS OF DAVID. 

These were written by different persons and agree in senti- 
ment and doctrine. In describing the wicked the Psalmist among 
other things gives us the following: "He sitteth in the lurking 
places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the in- 
nocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor. He lieth in wait 
secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: 
he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net." Here 
is a very fine and truthful description of the movements of the 
members of the Lodge System. "Lurking places," "secret places," 
"privily," and "secretly" are terms that apply most appropriately 
to the lodge, and to those who follow its secret methods. 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 107 

CHAPTER III.— SOLOMON, THE SON OF DAVID. 

He was a very wise and wealthy man, but his conduct in many 
ways is not at all commendable. He preached well, but he prac- 
ticed very poorly. Yet the Proverbs he collected surpass the wis- 
dom of all ages, so far as human ethics are concerned, and have the 
divine approval. There is no doubt at all but that Solomon was 
an active member in the secret orders of his day. There was noth- 
ing under the sun, good or evil, that he was not in. He says of 
himself, "I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly." 
We believe him. His record demonstrates the fact. His personal 
description of the Lodge System is unique. He says, "A naughty 
person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. He winketh 
with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; 
frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he 
soweth discord." The delineation is fearful, intensely so, and the 
picture is as apt as tho' drawn to-day. Notice, first, the character 
drawn — "naughty," "wicked," "froward in mouth and heart;" 
second, his conduct — he walks with a mouth and heart turned from 
the truth, he winks significantly with his eyes, he speaks with his 
feet, and teaches with his fingers in attitudes, signs, grips and ges- 
tures, he devises mischief and sows discord. Every secret lodge 
sows discord among friends, in families, in the Church, in business, 
in labor, and in state governments. The labor strikes, the trusts, 
and civil uprisings all originate in the Secret Lodge System. Trace 
them down to a final analysis as I have done, and you will find 
this to be so, if you do not know it now. Our late bloody civil 
war of 1861-1865 was precipitated by two secret societies. The 
basis of one was in the south and in the British Empire, the other 
was in the north. The Secret Lodge System profited by the butchery, 
and the poor people are largely paying the bill. Our whole national 
difficulty might have been amicably adjusted, had it not been for 
"the Hidden Hand," that "teacheth with his fingers." 



CHAPTER IV. — THE CHRIST. 

The Christ. The most eminent, distinguished, unique and dis- 



708 The Secret Lodge System 

interested character that ever appeared on the face of the earth, 
considered from the human standpoint, was that of the Christ. He 
was uncompromising in his adherence to the truth, being Himself 
the very embodiment of the truth, and the impersonation of the 
divinity. He was maligned with all the art and sophistry of Satan 
and sinners, but nothing wrong was ever proven against him. In 
morals he is the model of all ages. He was perfectly balanced and 
was master of humanity, master of the Satanic realm, 
and master of all the heavenly hosts. His attitude on 
any question settles it for time and eternity. It was sus- 
pected by his enemies that the Christ was in a secret conspiracy to 
overthrow the Roman government in Palastine and re-establish the 
Theocracy. This was evidently desired and expected by his friends. 
So much was this so that one at least of the twelve had already 
armed himself and began the initial onset. In his trial he was 
especially examined on this very point. They could prove nothing 
in this direction against the Christ, so they put him on the witness 
stand and he disavows the whole implication, insinuation and sus- 
picion. He plainly testifies that he had no affiliation in any way 
with any secret lodge of any kind whatever. "The high priest then 
asked Jesus of his disciples and his doctrine. Jesus answered him, 
I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and 
in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in Secret have 
I said nothing. Why asked thou me? ask them which heard me, 
what I have said unto them: Behold, they know what I 
said." In one of his sermons to his disciples he said, "What 
I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light; and what ye 
hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house tops." "There is 
nothing covered that shall not be revealed; and hid that shall not 
be known." This is the attitude of the Christ, and the principle 
he taught on this subject, which if carried out will break up every 
secret lodge outside of the dark domains of the lost. As I have 
more fully discussed this same phase of the life of the Christ else- 
where in this work, I dismiss it here with the above remarks. All 
the early churches followed the spirit, teaching and example of the 
Christ. As a result, during the reign of a pure Christianity, nearly 
all the secret lodges were abandoned. 



1 1' 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 109 



CHAPTER V. — PAUL THE APOSTLE. 

He was the bright and shining light of the early Christian 
Church. He did more than any one man to set the Church of the 
Christ upon its true foundation. He was more abundant in labors 
than any of the early workers. He wrote more than any of them. 
Apart from the Gospels and Acts he wrote more than all of them 
put together. He was a champion worthy of the cause he espoused. 
He had a most keen and incisive perception of true inwardness 
of the Christian System. He settled questions with which none of 
the rest could successfully grapple. He held intimate divine com- 
munion. He was the most scholarly and logical of all the Christ's 
early followers. He preached to the Jews, and spread the Gospel 
among the Gentiles. He met without abashment the orators of 
the Grecian Schools. The opinion of such a man is worth the most 
careful consideration. Paul after his conversion on the way to 
Danascus, lived an open life. Paul understood "the mysteries of 
iniquity," but he took no part with them except to study their in- 
tricacies and condemn them in the most positive terms. He said, 
"Come out from among them." "Have no fellowship with them." 
They offer sacrifices to idols. They "sacrifice to devils." Paul foresaw 
the difficulty and warned the Church against the danger. He knew 
that "that man of sin," the carnal, unregenerate, sinful man in 
the Church and "the mystery of iniquity" would coalesce, work 
together, and aid each other in betraying the cause of the Christ 
into the hands of sinners. "The Mystery of Iniquity" is the Secret 
Lodge System, which meets every requirement of the designation. 
The Mystery of the Lodge, is not " the Mystery of Godliness." No 
sane man will aver any such thing. The man of sin can be no other 
than a sinner. "The son of perdition" is the man who betrays 
Christ. He who opposes the truth is the unconverted man. He 
who exalts himself is the unregenerate man. He who takes God's 
place in the worship, sitting as a controlling member of the Church, 
asking that all bow to him, is simply the carnal, unregenerate, sinful 
man in the control of the Church, and most of the Churches are 
now full of these characters, and most, if not all of them, are 



110 The Secret Lodge System 



actual, sympathetic and quiescent members of the Lodge System. 

Cain was a man of sin, so was Esau and Saul after he forsook 
God. Men and women were born naturally into the Jewish Church 
without any reference to spirituality. Few of them ever got be- 
yond the form of religion. For this reason they were constantly 
going after idolatry. Christ introduced the new order of things 
which was that all members of the Church "must be born again," 
and be brought into a newness of spiritual life. But there was an 
early disposition to Judaize the Christian Church by taking into 
the fold any person who might make a formal profession of Christ, 
and to accept all children of Christian parents as members of the 
Church as in the Judaistic system, and thus corrupt the whole 
body of Christian believers, by taking "that man of sin" into the 
Church. Judas was a man of sin, so were Ananias and Sapphira, 
"and certain false prophets" and others "who crept in unawares." 
All such persons when known were rejected from the early Church. 
Paul and all his compeers stoutly insisted on "a converted, spirit- 
ually regenerated membership." (Lives of eminent Christians, 
Fleetwood's Life of Christ, P. 644.) But "that man of sin" per- 
sistently pushed his claim. Hyppolytus in his rare work, "Against 
All the Heresies," vigorously maintained the true spiritual test of 
membership. But the struggle went on and "the man of sin" con- 
tinued to creep into the churches. The quiet workings of the mys- 
tery of iniquity was back of the movement, till in A. D., 220; Calis- 
tus boldly advocated this corrupting doctrine, and after much re- 
sistance was confirmed by the election of Cornelius as pope in 
A. D., 2 51. Then the backward movement was rapid till Moham- 
medanism arose and the dark ages came on. All the Martyrdom, 
the bloody wars in the Church, Mohammedanism, the division, spite, 
envy, malice, jealousy and every other evil character and work in 
the nominal Christian churches are the direct progeny of "that 
man of sin," backed up, planned and sustained by the "mystery of in- 
iquity," which can be none other than the whole Secret Lodge Sys- 
tem to which Paul was entirely averse. But as I have spoken more 
fully of this subject under "Mysteries," we will not pursue the ques- 
tion any further in this place. Paul is among those who have "re- 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 111 

nounced the hidden things of dishonesty," and walk in the 
open daylight of God. Seeing that such an infamous thing 
as deliberately corrupting the Christian Church could not be ac- 
complished openly, resort would naturally be had to the mysteries, 
that the end might be accomplished in a hidden way. 



CHAPTER VI. — THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. 

The Apostolic and Post Apostolic churches in general were op- 
posed to the mysteries. But even in Paul's day they commenced 
to insinuate themselves into the nominal body of Christ. The early 
Methodists were opposed to these mysteries. So were the United 
Brethren in Christ for over a hundred years. The Liberals still have 
a nominal rule against the orders, and the radicals hold to 
the old constitution which is prohibitory. The Quakers or Preinds 
generally stand aloof from the secret orders. The three 
branches of the Reformed Churches have in them a strong 
sentiment against secret orders. When I first knew the Ohio 
Synod, there were but twelve ministers out of one hundred holding 
membership in the orders. Many of the Baptist and Congregational 
Churches and ministers do not favor lodge connections. The higher 
sentiment of all the Presbyterian Churches is against the mysteries. 
The Wesleyan and the Free Methodist churches forbid connection 
with the lodges. The same is true of the German Lutheran 
churches. The sentiment in the English Lutheran churches is 
divided. Many of them belong, while others are nominal, and 
some think the mysteries unbecoming a Christian. The Evangel- 
ical Synod of North America forbid their ministers connection 
with the orders, and discourage, but do not forbid their lay mem- 
bers from holding membership in the orders. But I suppose there 
is scarcely a denomination in the world but has sympathetic or 
actual members of the mysteries among their membership. But 
I am satisfied if a consensus of opinion were taken in all the 
churches in Christendom the vast majority would be averse to 
lodge connection if an honest judgment were expressed. But by 



112 The Secret Lodge System 



their mechinations, their machiavelianism, their clandestine move- 
ments, their deception and trickery, this minority is now virtually 
controlling our homes, our educational institutions, our commerce, 
and our civil government. They are in the saddle and have the 
reins and the whip, and they drive where they please. The remedy 
will be given in the last part of this work. These diabolical ends 
are accomplished by chicanery, fraud, double-dealing, bribery, slan- 
der, false entries, favoritism, false swearing, refusing to testify, 
secreting witnesses, destroying records, false entries, murder, by 
every device and art known to unscrupulous and Satanic ingenuity, 
so that the very fountains of society are being vitiated and cor- 
rupted. Men and women laugh at villiany. The simplicity of the 
Gospel is being destroyed. The churches and ministry are be- 
ing carried away by the infamous secret delusion, and religion 
is being made the merest sham to cover a carnal life, and hide 
the man of sin in a mock and unscrupulous sanctity put on at 
times to deceive the unwary. Men for a pretense teach one thing 
and do something else, and boast of its being "the philosophy of 
human nature." "With heartless impudence and Satanic art laugh 
and wink and carol over their own shame and corruption. There 
is nothing infamous that men will not do under cover of Secretism 
or the organized mysteries. They walk in darkness under cover 
and defy all law and order, truth and righteousness, and even 
frame their infamy by law as in the present, 1908, existing bank- 
ing law, by which the masses of the peoples in the nations are 
defrauded of countless millions of money and its substantial em- 
bodiment in all the materials of life, under the cry of over-pro- 
duction, while untold millions of helpless human beings are suf- 
fering for the want of the common necessaries of life. Panics are 
produced at the nod and beck of the Hidden Hands and Heads 
in financial circles. The Secret Lodge System corrupts the very 
strata of society at the fountain head, and men and women are 
born with the essential developments of dishonesty. There is 
an evil under the sun and it is clouded under the cover of a wide 
spread organic mysticism. And by this means every known vice 
is rampant in the broad day-light of the twentieth century civili- 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 113 



zation. The Church is a thing to be conjured by. Religion is a 
mockery, virtue is a sneer, honesty is a subject of laughter, the 
day of rest is a day of toil for many and a day of dissipation for 
others. The most gigantic swindles are financial foresight. Crimi- 
nal wealth is the way to honorable promotion in paying positions 
and the higher circles of so called honorable society, and the 
Secret Lodge System is called "a useful institution" in high class 
literature, while fiction is the reigning belle in the Home, the 
School, the social circle, the business mart, the Church, and the 
civil government, and in the fields of literature truth is an old, 
wrinkled, uncouth, unmarriage maid, useful as a drudge in the 
lower walks of like, to provide the viands for the elite of society. 
She never gets beyond the side shows, the minor orders, and the 
lower degrees. The purest men and women of all ages have dis- 
counted the Secret Lodge System. The most vicious and un- 
scrupulous have been its upholders and supporters and most per- 
sistent adherents and followers of the System. 



CHAPTER VII. — JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, and 
son of President John Adams, was an eminent scholar, statesman, 
jurist, possessing a clear and analytical mind, and was one of the 
purest men of the age in which he lived. He was some twenty- 
two years a member of Congress. Mr. Adams made an exhaustive 
study of Free Masonry and wrote thirty letters and an extended 
address on the subject. These are published in book form. An 
edition of 1875, has an Introduction of forty-one pages by his son 
Charles Francis Adams, a scholar, diplomat, author, member of 
Congress, and an arbitrator on the Alabama claims. He was a 
man of the highest moral and social standing. These letters and 
this address are the most keen and discriminating analysis of Ma- 
sonry, applicable in principle to the whole system of orders, major 
and minor, ever presented, unless we except Ronayne's "Master's 
Carpet." Mr. Adams' book must be read to be appreciated. We 



114 The Secret Lodge System 



can not, for want of space, quote at large. To show the low trick- 
ery and easy evasion, and unscrupulous effrontery of the system, 
we give but one incident. In 1829 nearly 200 Masons met in 
the grand lodge of Vermont, made up charges in general and indefi- 
nite terms, that they, personally, as Masons had been charged by 
their enemies, with; 1 — Being accessory to the abduction of Wil- 
liam Morgan. 2 — Shielding Masons from just punishment for 
crimes they might have committed. 3 — Exercising a Masonic in- 
fluence over legislative, executive and judiciary branches of the 
government. 4 — Tampering with juries. 5 — Exerting improper in- 
fluence for the political preferment of the brotherhood. 6 — Various 
blasphemous practices. 7 — Causing the death of a distinguished 
Mason. 8 — Sanctioning principles at variance with religion and 
virtue. 9— The assumption of a power to judge individual Masons 
by laws known only to the fraternity, and to inflict punishment 
corporally, even unto the pains of death. This was during the 
Masonic discussion incident to capture, seclusion and murder of 
William Morgan for exhibiting in printed form the secrets of Ma- 
sonry. Every one of these charges had been made and indubit- 
ably proved by incontestable witnesses mostly in open courts, not 
against these Vermont Masons, but against the institution itself, 
and against the guilty party. Yet these men with the deliberate 
purpose of misleading the public and of covering up the infamy of 
Masonry, deny every one of these charges. They apply the charges 
to themselves and then deny them. The innocence of those 200 
Masons of Vermont in no way proves the guiltlessness of all those in- 
famous characters actually involved in the abduction and murder 
of William Morgan. The system is stained with blood. Its fingers 
drip with the red fluid of human life. And these Vermont Masons 
made themselves partners in the crime when they tried to shield 
the institution by the plea of their own personal innocence. The 
charges were brought against the order to which these men be- 
longed. They cling to the infamous thing, cry, "We are innocent, 
the charges are false." But they never denounce the guilty parties. 
My innocence does not prove the innocence of any murderer or 
group of murderers. Upon these points Mr. Adams tersely says: 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 115 



"The charges are against the plain, unequivocal import of the laws 
of Masonry. The charges are that those laws do in their own na- 
ture lead to and instigate the commission of all those crimes, and 
that they have led to and instigated the perpetration of them." 
This is a clean statement of the bitter fact, which has never been 
squarely met, nor have the charges ever been disproved. The evi- 
dence stands unimpeached. The only things that have been done 
are to unscrupulously, evasively or flatly deny the charges, or to 
raise doubts about them, or to treat them with "Dignified Silence." 
The silver salver of the Secret Lodge System is Dignified Silence, 
or golden mouthed orotund oratory, or the bitter, relentless, vin- 
dictive persecution and ruin of all those who in any way dispute 
its progress or sway. 



CHAPTER VIII. — CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 

Charles Francis Adams vindicates the attitude of his father. 
He says, "I shall never disavow my old work or shrink from the 
attribution of it to my hand, whether in private or in public. Very 
truly yours, C. F. Adams, August 3, 1875." 

He says, after a careful study of the subject of Masonry: 
"A more perfect agent for the devising and execution of conspi- 
racies against Church or state could scarcely have been conceived." 
The same may be said of all secret lodges. Mr. Adams' introduc- 
tion to the letters of his father is a masterpiece in English litera- 
ture. It is clean, clear, elevated, logical, statesmanlike and 
unique. In describing the growth of the system, he remarks, "In 
all directions the materials have been collected for a secret combi- 
nation of the most formidable character." He broadens his view 
in the discussion and says, "An obvious danger attending all associa- 
tions of men connected by secret obligations, springs from their 
susceptibility to abuse in being converted into engines for the over- 
throw or the control of established governments." 



CHAPTER IX. — ELDER DAVDD BERNARD. 

Elder David Bernard of Utica, State of New York, born in 



116 The Secret Lodge System 

1798, was an American citizen of high standing. In his earlier 
years his time was spent in clerkship, teaching school, reading law, 
and as a student in Columbian College at Washington, D. C. He 
became a prominent Gospel minister in the Baptist churches of 
New York State; and during the early part of his ministry he was 
made a Mason, going through the ineffable degrees in the Lodge of 
Perfection, during all of which he had administered to him sixty- 
seven, as he calls them, "profane oaths." He had reached this 
point about 182 6, in the autumn of which year Captain William 
Morgan was kidnapped, carried away and murdered. Mr. Bernard, 
then a Mason in good standing and pastor of a church, condemned 
the procedure openly, and in the lodge, where he was abused, in- 
sulted, vilified and threatened and expelled for unmasonic conduct. 
Then he reviewed and studied Masonry in all its bearings and re- 
lations from top to bottom, and in 182 9 he issued from the press, 
"Light on Masonry." The truth of this book was attested by hun- 
dreds of competent witnesses. It produced great consternation 
among the lodges. They determined on the ruin of the author. 
Failing in this, they undertook the quiet destruction of the book, 
by hiding away or destroying every copy. But a copy was put 
in the hands of Rev. Peter Eby, a local preacher among the United 
Brethren in Christ, living on a farm a mile south of North Robin- 
son, Crawford Co., Ohio, by a man by the name of Smith, who had 
been a Mason, and had come out from the order during the Morgan 
revelation, and denounced Masonry as "a wicked institution." Mr. 
Smith said to Peter Eby, "Tell no one that I have given you this 
book. It will endanger my life. The Masons are destroying the 
work. Keep the book secreted till after I am dead. Then have it 
republished." Mr. Eby did as he was advised. The book was 
published again in 1859 "by a company," (the parties, Mr. Eby 
said, being afraid to assign their names) and was "for sale by Von- 
neida & Sowers, Dayton Ohio." A copy of this book is before me 
at this writing. The facts in this interesting history are from the 
Rev. Peter Eby's own mouth to me. Elder David Bernard gave 
years of careful and conscientious study to this subject, with a 
keen, penetrating and vigorous mind, and was still living when this 






Part III: Eminent Opinion 117 



new edition was printed. In his introduction to the original work 
he says of himself, that, "In the peculiar providence of God, he 
was led to investigate the subject; he found Masonry wholly cor- 
rupt, its morality, a shadow; its benevolence, selfishness; its reli- 
gion, infidelity; and that as a system it was an engine of Satan, 
calculated to enslave the children of men, and pour contempt on 
the Most High." And in the preface to the edition he says, "And 
Free Masonry is the same now, in the letter and spirit — in its na- 
ture and tendencies — in its objects and aims — that it was when 
I published its secrets to the world." 

In 1874 Elder David Bernard delivered a lengthy address on 
"Reminiscenses of Masonic Revelations" before an "Association in 
Syracuse, New York." This address was published by special re- 
quest of the association, by a firm in Chicago. In this he confirms 
all that he had ever said before against Masonry. He says, "I 
was caught in an evil net." "Sixty-seven times I swore profanely 
in taking the first seven degrees of Masonry." "As we ascend 
the Masonic ladder we descend in degredation, moral corruption and 
death." "Free Masonry is the devil's trap." "It is a fell destroyer, 
whose enchantments are fatal and whose victims are many." "Free 
Masonry is the devil's masterpiece." "I have unwaveringly borne 
testimony for forty-eight years." "I gave to the world, Light on 
Masonry, chiefly because Masonry opposes the Gospel." Mr. Ber- 
nard instead of softening down with age, emphasizes and intensi- 
fies his attitude and convictions, the infamous system. It is the 
most fearful and deliberate arraingnment of the Secret Lodge Sys- 
tem 1 have ever heard or read. In its intensity and power of state- 
ment it surpasses Adams and Ronayne, though both of these au- 
thors are superior in logical accument, analytical discrimination, 
and urgumentative force. 



CHAPTER X. — EDMOND RONAYNE. 

Edmond Ronayne is a most remarkable man. He is of Irish 
extraction, and has all the wit and brilliancy peculiar to that nation. 



118 The Secret Lodge System 

He has the most marvelous memory of any man I ever knew. I 
formed his personal acquaintance some years ago, heard his de- 
bate on Masonry with a Lutheran minister, and saw him openly 
exhibit the initiation of a candidate into the first and third degrees 
of Masonry, or entered apprentice and master Mason. He was past 
master, Keystone Lodge No. 639, Chicago, 111. He has written 
"Free Masonry at a Glance," "Masonic Oaths" and "The Master's 
Carpet." Mr. Ronayne has made a deep study of the Ancient Mys- 
teries, the Roman Catholic Religion, the Masonic Institution, and 
of the Protestant Translation of the Scriptures. In "The Master's 
Carpet" he reviews the similarity between Masonry, Romanism and 
the Mysteries, and compares the whole with King James' Version 
of the Bible. The book is illustrated. It is a very lucid work, and 
is well written, and will carry conviction to any reasoning mind. 
This is the indictment which Mr. Ronayne brings against Masonry. 
It mutilates the Bible, handles the word of God deceitfully, and 
willfully ignores and dishonors the name of Jesus Christ, the Son 
of God. It is a miserable counterfeit, and by its Grand Masters 
and Grand Orators, it has the bold effrontery to prate of its noble 
'tenets,' and to boast of the high moral tone of its monitorial teach- 
ing. It professes to exercise 'brotherly love,' but the 'brotherly 
love' of Masonry is nothing but the flimsy bond produced by wicked 
oaths, cemented by selfishness, and enforced by death penalties of 
which a cannibal might be ashamed. It lays great stress upon 
'relief,' but the 'relief of the lodge means 'relief for a recom- 
pense, and to only him who is 'clear on the book,' and at the very 
best, is but the fulfillment of a sworn obligation. It unblushingly 
speaks of 'truth' while the whole vile system is nothing but one 
tissue of falsehood, from beginning to end; and if the term has 
any signification at all in Masonic text-books, it simply means that 
you must lie to parent, wife, child and friend, and even to God 
himself — falsifying his Word, and rejecting Divine truth in order 
to be true to Masonry. It alludes to 'temperance' in its monitorial 
teachings, but the 'temperance' of Free Masonry simply requires 
that a man must not get so drunk as to become foolish enough 
to reveal its mountebank jugglery. The 'fortitude' it recommends, 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 119 



reaches only so far as to enable a Mason to resist the importunities 
of friends to quit the institution, or of the demands of God and 
of Conscience to denounce its hidden works of darkness. It al- 
ludes to 'prudence,' hut it is only to be 'prudent' in all strange 
and mixed companies, never to let fall the least sign, token or 
word whereby the secerts of Masonry might be unlawfully obtained. 
And it refers to justice in its ritual, but, like all the rest of its 
moral code, it means favoritism to Masonry, to the lodge, and to 
a brother, but cunning trickery, deception and double-dealing to- 
wards the cowans and the 'profane' public." This man thus speaks 
after years of inside experience with the lodges, and a wide, and 
deep, and assiduous study of this subject, its cognate branches, and 
their opposites in the realm of thought and its activities. And what 
Mr. Ronayne says of Masonry is substantially true in the substruc- 
ture, essential character and inevitable tendencies of "The Whole 
Secret Lodge System." The same black thread runs through every 
web and branch, and cordage of the system, and distinctively marks 
every secret order, major and minor. This I have unequivocally 
demonstrated, in my discussion, in this work of the major and 
minor secret orders. This dark thread everywhere, and always 
ultimately draws downward. Its uplifts are only temporary, or 
are due to other agencies, and not to the black bandage. The 
Christian System, on the other hand, has a distinguishing, but a 
diverse mark from that of the Lodge. The Christian thread in 
its many manifestations, differs from the above intexture, char- 
acter, tendency and color. This will bear any weight and the 
tincture is blood-red, a symbol of the Life that was poured out 
among men for our eternal salvation. This red thread is never 
cut off to fill in elsewhere to meet emergencies. It is whole and 
undivided. Where you find a red thread in the Lodge you may 
be assured that it is a counterfeit, a fraud, an imposition. Christ 
is not essentially, organically or approvingly in the Secret Lodge 
System. Christ is in the heart and life of the true believer, in 
the truly Christian home, in the true Christian Church in all its 
forms, and in the considerate and open civil government in what- 
ever adequate and righteous and progressive form it may take. 



120 The Secret Lodge System 

But Christ in the lodges is an alien, subordinate, a figure-head, and 
not an interpenetrating Spirit. "Wherefore if they shall say unto 
you, Behold, he is in the desert; (of Utah;) go not forth: behold, he 
is in the secret chambers; (lodges;) believe it not. For as the 
lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; 
so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Christ does not 
work in, nor through the Secret Lodges, but through and in the 
churches and in the open daylight of heaven and under no dark 
pledges of organized secretism. The secret lodges are now and al- 
ways have been a hindrance to the advancement of the true Chris- 
tianity. And as long as they exist, and wherever they exist, they 
stand directly athwart the path of the Christ. 



CHAPTER XI. — THE BOSTON ORATOR. 

Joseph Cook, the Boston Orator. We here introduce in full 
the address of Joseph Cook of Boston, on "Disloyal Secret 
Oaths," delivered in Chicago in 1890. It was revised and corrected 
by the author. Mr. Cook needs no commendation from us. He 
has a world wide reputation as a thinker, a scholar, a Christian, 
as an untrammeled investigator of questions under his considera- 
tion, as an orator, and as an undaunted public speaker and writer, 
in the expression of his conviction. This is followed by some 
shorter testimonies with which we close this part of the work. 

These are not a tithe of testimony we might adduce. To give 
all would not be possible in the limits of this book, nor is it 
necessary. If these produce no conviction, more will not effect 
any better results. There are those who are determined to be- 
lieve a lie that they may be condemned. Nothing will reach such 
hardened souls but suffering. Only pain will penetrate their per- 
verted understanding, and misery will make them see what is 
the mind of God. 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 121 



DISLOYAL SECRET OATHS. 



Address of Joseph Cook, Boston, at the Conference of Christians, 

Chicago, 1890. 



Revised and Corrected by the Author. 



If I am not mistaken, Mr. Chairman, and ladies and gentle- 
men, there are two kinds of secret societies — the gilt-edged and 
the guilty edged. The former are made up chiefly of fuss and 
feathers, regalia and pewter swords; we are too much in earnest 
to pause to discuss them now. But the latter are dipped, sometimes 
not merely in sacrilege; they actually touch blood. My chief topics 
to-night are Mormonism, Clan-na-Gaelism and Jesuitism, — all of 
the disloyal species, so that I might say that my central subject 
is disloyal secret oaths. Every piece of cordage in the British 
Navy has a red thread running through its center. Disloyal secret 
oaths run through all the worst kinds of secret societies, and it 
is the worst kind that we are here to discuss chiefly. 

There have happened lately three very important legal events: 
first, the exposure in this city of some of the secrets of the Clan- 
na-Gael society and its allies; next, the exposure in Salt Lake City 
of the secrets of the Endowment House oaths; and thirdly, the 
justification, by the decision of the Supreme Court of the nation, 
of the famous Idaho Test Oaths, disfranchising Mormons. The 
Supreme Court has gone so far as to assert that any one who is 
known to have taken the Endowment House oaths should not be 
naturalized, and, if he has been naturalized, should be disfranchised. 

As our population grows, and political prizes in America be- 
come vaster, the danger from disloyal secret oaths will increase. 

This nation is very small in numbers compared with what it 
must be in time. We have 65,000,000 of people governed by 
about 13,000,000 of voters. Of the 13,000,000 about 3,000,00o fail 
to vote in every closely contested election. They are stay-at-homes. 
When the margin is narrow these absentees easily determine the 
result. Now, what have you left? I hold up my hand to represent 



122 The Secret Lodge System 



the 10,000,000 voters of this country. Two millions of those are 
illiterates; and more than 2,000,000 are members of secret lodges 
of various sorts. I shut the two smaller fingers of my hand to repre- 
sent the general effect of illiteracy and of the secret lodge system up- 
on our national politics. In any closely contested presidential elec- 
tion, either of these forces alone might determine the result. Here 
you have the great Satanic thumb of the Whisky Ring, with its allies, 
the brothels and gambling dens. They clasp themselves over the 
illiterate classes, and have a good deal of help from various of the 
worst kinds of lodges, in spite of the entire freedom of some of 
our secret organizations from alliance with the Whisky Ring. I 
do not charge them all with such alliance, but in politics some 
lodges form such alliances frequently. Here you have the Democratic 
and Republican parties, the two great fingers of this hand. Here is 
this powerful combination, and you notice what power that combina- 
tion may have upon these two fingers. Politicians are good arith- 
meticiams. When the margin is narrow there is nothing for those 
fingers but to stoop down and get votes from this combination. 
It is over and under, and over and under, and over and under, 
and things are immensely mixed. This is the grip that is on the 
throat of every great municipality of the country. And here is 
your Republican party that has done wonders in some States for 
temperance and morality, but which, when it meets in this city as 
a national oragnization, forgets until the last day of its session 
to say anything upon the chief mischief of our time — the chief 
mischief that has more money behind it and has caused more 
trouble than ever slavery caused. On the last day of your Re- 
publican Convention it passed a timid resolution in favor of all 
judicious measures for the promotion of temperance and morality. 
As a national organization, it is not under that thumb; it is over 
it and under it, and over it and under it. 

Now, the solemn truth is that already three-quarters of our 
public officials are members of secret societies. It is supposed to 
be very essential to the success of a politician that he have the 
support of the lodges. I am asking you to look at this combination 
of forces in national politics in order that you may make a calcu- 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 123 

lation in your thoughts of the ultimate danger of disloyal secret 
oaths. This topic should be discussed, not only for tonight, to- 
morrow, next week, next month, and the next year, but for the next 
century. If these are the postures of our parties and politicians 
in the present hour of a thin population, what will be their pos- 
tures when we have a hundred and fifty and two hundred millions, 
and when the national grab-bag is a thousand times broader and 
deeper than at the present hour? 

If, at this hour, it seems somewhat dangerous to a man's 
popularity and influence to oppose the system of lodges or 
disloyal oaths; if I, for instance, run considerable risk in uttering 
myself candidly to-night on this topic, what will be the risk if we 
allow the deadly upas tree to grow until it has attained its full 
height? In the present combination of forces and politics, so much 
force and power can be exercised by secret combinations that al- 
most no politician dare oppose them. What may be the power 
exercised by them ultimately in a population compared with which 
our present masses altogether on this Continent are a mere sprink- 
ling? If it is already impossible for any one to speak out on this 
topic without being shot at, or shot into by the arrow of slander 
in ambush, then it is high time to draw out the fire of the enemy 
and know where we are. 

It was my fortune in Salt Lake City some years ago to speak 
very candidly on the mischiefs of Mormonism. I made some at- 
tempts to discover the secrets of the Endowment House. Of course, 
I could not enter that great Bastile. There it stood with its walls 
twelve and nine feet thick, with its narrow windows and its guarded 
doors. The building was not finished when I was first in Salt 
Lake City, and yet it had the appearance of a structure intended 
to be a fortress as well as a place of secret asylum. I was told 
by some judges of the United States Courts that the Mormon En- 
dowment House oaths contained distinctly disloyal pledges. Various 
pamphlets had been issued on this topic. I gathered everything 
I could put my hand on that was in print. I cross-examined a parlor 
full of gentlemen one evening, some of whom were seceded Mor- 
mons, as to the character of these oaths. In short, I obtained 



124 The Secret Lodge System 



from various sources almost the information which has now come 
before the public as a result of judicial proceedings of the most 
careful kind in Salt Lake City. 

What could I do with that information? It was not official, 
it was not legal; it was information gathered by travel. I per- 
sonally credited it, but you can say of a seceding Mormon that he 
has been embittered by his experience, and is not to be trusted. 
You can say, as Mormons did say, that rightly interpreted, the 
oaths were all loyal. You can say that the seceding Mormons 
have been misled, and that they have not gone through the whole 
scale of Mormonism and do not understand it to the top, and that 
real loyalty abides at the summit, however much disloyalty might 
be in the roots of the tree. I found I could not do anything with 
that information, and yet I had as much information as I have now. 

You cannot get a hearing for hearsay on the subject of secret 
societies in this country. You must have actual, legal evidence, 
and that is the reason why to-night I have resolved to put my foot 
down on nothing but absolutely legal evidence received in the 
courts. When I come to the topic of Masonry I mean to say nothing 
that has not been justified over and over by investigations con- 
ducted in legal manner in our courts of law. As to the Endowment 
House at Salt Lake City, we have now obtained full information 
through the courts, and the public is convinced that there is no 
longer any doubt about the disloyal character of the Mormon oaths. 
The very highest judicial tribunal has settled the question once and 
for all that a man who has taken these Morman Endowment House 
oaths should not be naturalized, and that if he already calls him- 
self a citizen he should be disfranchised. 

It has been shown that the public information on this subject, 
gathered from the best sources, none of it likely to be authorita- 
tive to the whole public, was after all correct, and that what we 
heard from seceding Mormons was the truth. What we gathered 
from judges, who had shrewd surmises as to the character of these 
oaths, was correct. We ought to take a lesson from this as to 
some other subjects connected with secret societies where we are 
rebuffed by being told we know nothing about the matter. We knew 



Part III; Eminent Opinion 125 

something about Mormonism before this legal evidence came to us, 
and I maintain that we know something about the vaunted secrets of 
some societies amongst us. We have other good evidence to pro- 
duce from sources outside the courts; nevertheless, I mean to stand 
on the legal evidence. Let us not allow ourselves to be intim- 
idated by being told that we have never been members of secret 
societies. Some of us have been. But there has never been any 
great secret society in this land that has any secrets it can keep 
long. The reporters of this country are an omniscent class, and 
not under any oaths to keep secrets. I am convinced that our 
impression of the oaths taken in secret societies of the land is 
about right, and yet I will not assert that this is the case, for I 
wish to stand on strictly legal evidence. Our experience with the 
Mormon Endowment House oaths should convince us that the 
shrewd surmises of our best scholars, our best legal minds, our 
best editors, are after all very near the truth, and that legal in- 
vestigation will probably justify our position. 

Let me take up next this topic with which you are so familiar 
in Chicago, the murder of Dr. Cronin. I want you to look at 
the atrocity of such proceedings as were brought out in detail 
before your court, the atrocity of the conspiracy hatched in a hot- 
bed of faction in a vast organization extending across the Conti- 
nent. Let our population be doubled and trebled; let political 
prizes be increased; let the attempt to bring on a contest here be- 
tween factions and a war there between sections of some secret 
organization be increased in virulency in proportion to the increase 
of the size of the prizes, and you can imagine that many a secret 
murder might occur, traceable to just such organizations. The 
Death of Dr. Cronin was probably providential. The absolute in- 
fernality which lies in the principles that led to the murder of Dr. 
Cronin may grow to a serpent twining around our Republic as the 
serpent twined around the Laocoon of old. Our duty is to seize that 
serpent by the throat while he is young, and unwind his coils from 
the body politic and social and religious, and then hurl the viper 
back into the chaos where he belongs. 

Many ministers have gone into secret organizations. Numbers 



126 The Secret Lodge System 

of our best citizens are in them. I am not assailing any man's 
motive. An organization is one thing, but the men in it are another. 
There may be good men in it. I suppose there are a multitude of 
really excellent men in the different secret organizations of this 
country that really do not know the characters of the organizations 
or have not reflected on them. If they find themselves deceived 
after they join a society, sometimes for fear of trouble they do not 
leave it. Very often, however, they do leave. There are very many 
secret organizations in this country with thoroughly good men 
in them who rarely attend the meetings, but pay their dues. Only 
about one out of five of the Freemasons, it is said, is regular in 
attendance. I am not classing the Freemasons with Clan-na-Gael 
people, because I believe they are on a much higher plane; but 
I shall have enough to say about the possible abuses of Masonry. 

Your Clan-na-Gael people have been proved to be dangerous 
to society. In view of some of their principles it is not improper 
to affirm that those who are loyal to them are disloyal to the Re- 
public. I mean by a disloyal secret oath, an oath that is not 
authorized by the public law, or that tramples on the authority of 
the state or of the church, or of both together. I maintain that 
a secret oath of that sort ought to be illegal, and ought to be 
regarded by the church as reprehensible. 

The statutes of Vermont up to 1880, — I suppose up to the 
present hour — made such oaths illegal. I am discussing Clan-na- 
Gaelism, and you will not think that Vermont is narrow or bigoted 
because she puts a penalty of $50 to $200 upon every secret oath 
not authorized by public law. Here, I say, is the red thread in the 
center of the cordage. Put an end to secret oaths and you 
put an end to all societies founded upon them. Vermont has 
made secret oaths, not provided for by her statutes, illegal and 
punishable by fine, and so has actually uprooted all societies founded 
upon such oaths. In the Revised Statutes of Vermont, as published 
here in the edition of 1880 — a friend of mine very kindly ob- 
tained this law book for me this afternoon — is the following: 

'A person who administers to another an oath or affirmation 
or obligation in the nature of an oath, which is not required or 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 127 



authorized by law, or a person who voluntarily suffers such oath 
or obligation to be administered to him, or voluntarily takes the 
same, shall be fined not more than $200 and not less than $50; 
but this section shall not prohibit an oath or affidavit for the pur- 
pose of establishing a claim, petition or application by an individ- 
ual or corporation, administered without intentional secrecy (this 
shows that where secrecy is intentional the oath is illegal) by a 
person authorized to administer oaths, or an oath or affidavit for 
the verification of commercial papers or documents relating to 
property, or which may be required by a public officer or tribunal 
of the United States, or of any state, or any other country, nor 
abridge the authority of a magistrate." 

That is the law of Vermont, and I beg you to notice that the 
penalty here mentioned has been doubled since 1833. 

You say the excitement at the time of the murder of Morgan 
naturally caused competition between politicians to catch the Anti- 
mason vote, and that in the swirl of public excitement Vermont 
was ready to pass this law. That law was originally passed in 
1833, but the penalty was only $100. In 1839, six years after, 
Masonry had been superseded by anti-slavery as a topic of great 
prominence in politics. Vermont doubled the penalty, and here 
she has kept the penalty on her books fifty years — $200 the high- 
est fine for taking an oath or administering an oath not provided 
for by the laws of the commonwealth. 

Now, I maintain that in Mormonism, in Clan-na-Gaelism and 
in Jesuitism, it is high time that we carry the Vermont principle, 
of making secret oaths illegal, through all our States; and in 
fact, through Freemasonry also, if you please, for the Vermont 
scythe would cut up Preemasonary. To use the admirable meta- 
phor of the eloquent gentleman (Dr. Wallace) who has preceded 
me, Here is a scythe that mows through the whole swamp of the 
pestilential growth of oath-bound secret organizations. The keen 
blade of the Vermont revised Statutes I wish to see in use every- 
where. 

I brought to the platform a legal opinion from no less a man 
than Daniel Webster, given when Massachusetts had passed a law 



128 The Secret Lodge System 



like that which is now in force in Vermont. It is astonishing 
what weight Webster could put into a few sentences, and how a 
whole topic would be covered on its many sides by half a dozen 
of his judicious clauses. 

"All secret associations, the members of which take upon them- 
selves extraordinary obligations to one another, and are bound to- 
gether by secret oaths, are natural sources of jealousy and just 
alarm to others, and especially unfavorable to harmony and mutual 
confidence among men living together under public institutions, 
and are dangerous to the general cause of civil liberty and justice. 
Under the influence of this conviction I heartily approve the law 
lately enacted in the State of which I am a citizen, for abolishing 
all such oaths and ogligations." 

Webster, according to that opinion, would justify this Ver- 
mont law, and all I stand for here tonight is just that principle in 
its entire natural application. If Webster was a fanatic, if the 
legislators of Vermont for fifty years have been fanatics, then we 
are fanatics for justifying this central principle. 

I now come to Jesutism, and I beg leave to say that I do not 
wish to attack any man's religion. I would speak of Catholicism as a 
religion with all due respect. I am not here to discuss that topic 
to-night. But Romanism as a polity is another matter. Political 
Romanism is under the management of an oath-bound secret or- 
ganization called the Jesuit body. Now, as cool an authority as 
the Encyclopedia Britannica says, in its last edition, that Jesuit- 
ism at the present hour, as a secret oath-bound organization, is a 
naked sword with its hilt at Rome and its point everywhere. That 
sword has been drawn of late for the destruction of the American 
common-school system. Our Republic rests its chief weight on a 
tripod, of which the three supports are a free church, a free school, 
a free state. The tripod is of such a nature that when you break 
either of the supports, the whole tumbles. It is beyond contro- 
versy that the arm of the most powerful ecclesiastical organiza- 
tion known to history is lifted with that Jesuit sword in its hand 
for the purpose of cutting to pieces the historic, absolutely price- 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 129 



less American common-school system. I say, paralyzed be the 
arm that is lifted for such a purpose! 

The power of Jesuitism is in its secret oaths. It is said that 
ten men with an understanding with each other can manage a 
hundred men in almost any assembly. Jesuitism in this country 
is like the ten men who have an understanding among the hun- 
dred who have not. You say it is not very powerful in this Re- 
public. It is supposed at the present time that the majority of 
the Jesuits are here. They have been driven out of France, out 
of England, out of Germany. Of couse they have tried to re- 
turn and recover their supremacy, but they are here in larger num- 
bers because they have been expelled from other countries, They 
have been driven out of large parts of South America. Near my 
blessed summer home in the Adirondacks, at Lake George, there 
was an immense fire last summer and rattle-snakes and other in- 
habitants of the woods were driven into a ravine. So much terri- 
tory was burned that all the wild things in that reigon were 
frightened away to a certain quarter to which they naturally fled 
as the flames followed. Now, Europe has been burned over again 
and again; many South American states have been burned over 
again and again by flames of indignation against the political in- 
trigues of the Jesuits, and the exiled serpents have come to the 
United States. Their power is in their secret organization. 

You are told that it is dangerous to discuss this topic. It 
is dangerous not to discuss it. Many newspapers have Catholic 
editors and reporters. I thank God that the great dailies here in 
your noble city of Chicago, however, have lately been telling much 
truth about Jesuits, and have been defending our public school 
system in a manner for which I make by best bow to the public 
press. I have been known to criticise the press, but I praise your 
Chicago Inter-Ocean and your Chicago Tribune for discussing the 
relations of political Romanism to our common schools, and for 
defending distinctively American ideas in that connection. But 
the Jesuits are not disheartened; they know the power of secret 
organization. 

What have we done in Boston? We have gone back to Daniel 



130 The Secret Lodge System 



Webster's principle. We have gone back to the underlying thought 
of the Vermont law. We have gone back to the old doctrine of 
Massachusetts, that every official shall take an oath that he re- 
nounces all allegiance to every foreign prince, prelate, state or 
potentate. We want every Jesuit in the land to take an oath of 
such renunciation, and any Jesuit or any citizen who will not take 
an oath affirming that the civil law is in his opinion superior in 
authority to any ecclesiastical law or to the mandates of any secret 
organization, shall be disfranchised or shall never be naturalized. 
In this way we may disencumber ourselves of real aliens. We 
think there is reason for returning to the view of our forefathers. 
The Massachusetts people are beginning to see that their fathers 
were none too cautious. 

There is a Boston Committee of One Hundred that has been 
doing highly valuable work in connection with the defense of the 
common school system. I hold in my hand a pamphlet which they 
have just issued and of which the Secretary of the Association, Dr. 
Dunn, a very scholarly gentleman, is the author, in which the 
doctrine is published with the full concurrence of the Boston Com- 
mittee of One Hundred, embracing many distinguished names, 
that a man who cannot take such an oath as that should never 
be admitted to the right of suffrage. We stand here on the prin- 
ciple that disloyal oaths should disfranchise the taker. The judge 
who gave the decision concerning these Endowment House oaths 
would give, I believe, a similar decision as to the famous — I might 
have said infamous — oaths of Jesuitism. No man can be a good 
Jesuit and also honest and take the oath once in use in Massachu- 
setts to renounce allegiance to foreign potentates and prelates. 
I fear, however, the Jesuits will take that oath and violate it as 
often as the interests of their order require. 

There was issued, not many months ago, an encyclical by the 
Pope of Rome in which he says that it is the duty of every good 
Catholic to be guided by the political wisdom of the Vatican. I 
have the language here before me. When the church has spoken 
on any matter of faith and morals, the church members obey; 
but Cardinal Manning says that that "morals" includes the field 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 131 



of education and politics. Jerome Bonaparte, a relative of Napoleon 
Bonaparte, married in Baltimore. A descendant of his, Charles 
Jerome Bonaparte, made a speech at the recent convention of Ro- 
man Catholic laymen in that city. In it occurred this sentence: 
"The Pope of Rome may be a prisoner or an exile, but he can 
never be a subject." That Baltimore convention of Roman Cath- 
olic laymen adopted a platform of principles, and in the last para- 
graph asserted that any government which passes any law affecting 
the interests of the Pope acts without authority, and that con- 
vention denied the right of any government to pass any such law 
without the Pope's full previous consent. 

What has all this to do with secret societies? The Jesuit 
order at this moment is supreme in Rome. The Jesuit order is an 
oath-bound organization, and its oaths are actually disloyal in 
substance and form. I make myself responsible for that state- 
ment, without making myself responsible for asserting, that this 
or that pretended text of the Jesuit oath is the actual text; there 
is great debate about what the text is. But I maintain that no 
Jesuit can honestly take the oaths required of him by the clerical 
party and remain loyal in the American sense to our institutions. 
I maintain that Jesuitism does divide the allegiance of the Jesuit 
who takes those oaths honestly. 

The proverb in Rome is that there are a Black Pope and a 
White Pope. The Black Pope is the head of the Jesuit order, the 
White Pope the head of the Roman church. Whenever they 
disagree the Black Pope has his way, and whenever they agree 
they rule the world. The Black Pope is the more important pope, 
and the Black Pope is the head of an oath-bound secret order. 
I am for applying the Vermont statute to that organization. I 
am for applying that principle of Webster and of the Boston Com- 
mittee of One Hundred to the whole range of the pestilential, dis- 
loyal oaths. Vicar-General Preston said, in New York City, not 
many months ago, "The Catholic who will take his religion from 
Rome, but not his politics, is not a good Catholic." There are a 
multitude of good Catholics who resent this. I am not bringing 



132 The Secret Lodge System 



this as an imputation of disloyalty against good Catholics, but I 
will not vouch for the loyalty of the clerical party as a class. 

Enlightened Catholic parents know very well that our schools 
are better than parochial schools, and that the attack upon our 
schools is organized chiefly by this Jesuit society. The Roman 
Catholic laymen themselves will be grateful to us for leading in 
an onset which will deliver them at last from bondage. South 
American Catholics have shaken off the Jesuit yoke. In Chili 
there is a fine for sending a child to a Jesuit school for instruction. 
In the Argentine Republic the parochial schools are put under 
close supervision. That republic is so filled with the modern spirit 
that it will not submit to Jesuitism for a moment. In all the 
republics of South America the yoke of political Romanism has been 
shaken off, although the Catholic faith of the people has remained. 
Many of our Roman Catholics, devoutly attached to their faith, 
are still ill at ease under the power of this secret society in 
clerical form; and if we raise a huge wave of popular indignation, 
I have no doubt will take advantage of it to assert their own 
liberties in the United States as they have in South America and 
in Mexico. Parochial schools are abolished in Mexico. In this 
foreign attack on your common schools you have an exhibition 
of disloyal secret oaths setting up a power within a power and 
introducing here actual alien authority. Cardinal Manning, of 
London himself well understanding the power of the secret organi- 
zation of the Roman Catholic church, says, — and he said this in 
public to Roman Catholic ecclesiastics — "It is your mission, Holy 
Fathers, to bend and to break the will of an imperial race." I 
say from Chicago here, the city of the Great Lakes, to Cardinal 
Manning, that we have now, thank God, no slave and no king on 
this continent, and that we shall never go into bondage to any 
king or prelate on the other side of the sea. But you are in 
danger of having a struggle on that matter, because you under- 
rate the power of the Jesuit oath-bound secret organization. 

In the few minutes left me, what shall I say of Freemasonry? 
It is an oath-bound secret organization. There are many good 
men in it. It has not been guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors 






Part III: Eminent Opinion 133 



as Mormonism or Clan-na-Gaelism or Jesuitism has been; and yet 
it was asserted at the time of the Morgan excitement that the 
skirts of Freemasonry were dipped in blood. I think we know 
pretty well what Freemasonry is. I am not a bit curious about 
its secrets that are said not to be discovered. There is a certain 
childishness about the pretense of secrecy in Freemasonry that 
amuses us. We understand thoroughly well what Freemasonry is, 
and many of us who have friends in the organization dislike to 
hear the full mischief of secret oaths discussed. But where does 
our Vermont scythe swing? Vermont repealed the charter of one 
of these grand lodges. She took away from each chapter of that 
State all power to hold property. The law was aimed at Free- 
masonry as well as at other organizations; and aimed chiefly at 
Freemasonry in 1833. That law, if carried out everywhere, would 
sweep Freemasonry out of this country. 

Well, you would say a good deal of good would thus be struck 
off. It is a benevolent society. It takes care of a good many 
many people. Freemasonry confines its benefactions to its own mem- 
bers, and unless you pay up your dues and take three degrees you 
do not get a handsome burial; and it is not certain that your widow 
will get much attention. On the whole, the benefactions of Free- 
masonry do not amount to a third part of the fees paid in by the 
different members. It is said that the Oddfellowship is a more ex- 
pensive institution than Freemasonry. I think, on the whole, that 
each of these organizations can afford to be tolerably benevolent to 
its own members. They take in so large an amount that they may 
well give out a small amount. I do most solemnly believe that all 
the good that Freemasons and Oddfellows do might be better ac- 
complished without any secrecy at all. I have no objection to their 
benevolent purposes. I have no objection to several of their minor 
principles. But hear the facts ascertained on legal evidence. One 
of the Masonic authorities — a leading member and sometimes called 
the Poet Laureate — is quoted by Prof. King as having said that, in 
1830, 45,000 out of 50,000 Masons then in the land abandoned their 
lodges, and by so doing substantially confessed that Morgan's ac- 
count of the oaths and ceremonies was correct. Think of forty-five 



134 The Secret Lodge System 



out of every fifty abandoning the lodges after that exposure! That 
was one of the most stupendous pieces of testimony ever given con- 
cerning the oaths of Freemasonry. I do not care what the special 
phraseology is — there may be dispute about that. Here are actions 
that speak louder than words, — honest men going out of Freema- 
sonry because it has been practically admitted that certain revela- 
tions concerning it were correct. We have had adhering Masons 
three or four times give testimony in the courts as to the character 
of their oaths. We have had seceding Masons do this again and 
again, so that there is in existence good legal evidence as to these 
oaths. It is uncontroverted and incontrovertible that the Masonic 
oaths are such as the law does not call for. They would be all 
forbidden by the Vermont test. Swing that scythe and you cut 
down all these oaths, because they are secret and illegal. 

You now and then obtain very frank expressions from some 
Masonic official. You find, for instance, an official of a Grand Lodge 
in Missouri saying in his report of 1867: 

"Not only do we know no North, no South, no East, no West, 
but we know no government save our own. To every government, 
save that of Masonry, and to each and all alike, we are foreigners. 
We are a nation of men bound to each other only by Masonic ties, 
as citizens of the world, and that world the world of Masonry; 
brethren to each other all the world over; foreigners to all the 
world besides." 

Now, if that is not buncombe and braggadocio, it is treason. 
Perhaps it is both. It would not mean much if an ill-balanced man, 
some unauthorized writer, were to utter sentiments of that sort; 
but every now and then sentiments of that kind crop out and they 
are not repudiated. They are adopted and printed and scattered 
all over the land. The time has come when we must notice such 
threats as these. If disloyalty of this sort is anything but mere 
brass, it might lead to blood. 

What I maintain emphatically is that Masonry in itself thus 
sets up certain standards which cannot safely be recognized by loyal 
men. I do not say the Masons are disloyal. A great many of them 
take the first oaths without knowing what comes with the other 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 



135 



oaths. The idea of that double kind of humiliation! Taking an oath 
that you do not quite understand, and taking an oath not to reveal 
secrets that have not been revealed to you! That is tying a noose 
around your own neck with your own hands. It is a degree of 
humiliation that I cannot conceive of a person of manliness sub- 
mitting to. How men do it I do not know; but they do it. 

Take the religious side of Masonry. It is said, and it is deneid, 
that the name of our Lord is excluded from the reading of the 
Scriptures in the Masonic lodges and from prayers in the presence 
of Masonic saints. It is affirmed distinctly that the name of Christ 
is always shut out on these occasions. Here I hold in my hand the 
order of exercises for initiation of a member in a Chicago lodge, 
and among hymns which are given here you have some with dis- 
tinctly Christian titles: "My Faith Looks up to Thee," "Near the 
Cross," "Lead, Kindly Light," and one entitled, "Christ, Our Pass- 
over." The pill is gilded; and by opening the mouth wide and shut- 
ting the eyes tightly enough, you can swallow it, even if you are a 
minister. But, for one, I do not envy the condition of the stomach 
that is filled with medicine of that kind. I cannot think that the 
breath of the Gospel would be sweet when the Gospel is preached 
after a mass of those nauseating ingredients have been swallowed 
by the pastor. 

Of all I wish to say of secret societies, this is the sum: 

Secret oaths — 

1. Can be shown historically to have often led to crime. 

2. Are natural sources of jealousy and just alarm to society 
at large. 

3. Are especially unfavorable to harmony and mutual confi- 
dence among men living together under popular institutions. 

4. Are dangerous to the general cause of civil liberty and just 
government. 

5. Are condemned by the severe denunciations of many of the 
wisest statesmen, preachers, and reformers. 

6. Are opposed to Christian principles, especially to those 
implied in these three texts: 

"In secret I have said nothing." 



136 The Secret Lodge System 



"Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." 

"Give no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed." 

7. Are forbidden in some portions of our Republic by the civil 
law, and ought to be in all portions. Many European governments 
hold Freemasonry under grave suspicion as a mask for conspiracies 
against throne and altar. In Prussia, Poland, Russia and Spain 
Freemasonry is prohibited by law. 

8. Are forbidden to church members by some Christian de- 
nominations, and ought to be by all. 

The following denominations are committed by vote of their 
legislative assemblies, or by constitution, to the exclusion of Free- 
mason's from church membership: United Presbyterians, United 
Brethren, Seventh-Day Adventists, Christian Reformed Church, 
Primitive Baptists, Seventh-Day Baptists, Scandinavian Baptists, 
Qerman Baptists or Dunkers, Friends, Norwegian Lutherans, Danish 
Lutherans, Swedish Lutherans, German Lutherans of Synodical 
Conference and General Council, Mennonites, Moravians, Plymouth 
Brethren, Associate Presbyterians, Reformed Presbyterians, Free 
Methodists, Wesleyan Methodists, Hollanders of the Reformed 
Church, and various state and local Associations of Baptists and 
Congregationalists. 

Mr. Emerson says that the creed of Episcopacy in England is 
that by taste you are saved. Now, I fear that there are some people, 
some very excellent people, who believe that by the good things in 
Freemasonry we are saved. That is an immensely unsafe creed. 
I do not say that Freemasonry teaches nothing but deism. Free- 
masonry claims that it does not deny Revelation; but, I suppose, 
it eliminates some things from the New Testament when it uses 
Scriptural extracts before a lodge. "It cannot be denied," says the 
impartial Encyclopedia Brittanica, " that the German, Dutch, Bel- 
gian and French magazines of the craft occasionally exhibit a tone 
which is not favorable to Christianity, regarded as a special revela- 
tion." 

Many will say, "Go into a lodge. There are a hundred in that 
lodge who are not church members; you may do good there. The 
more church members of you who are there, the less likely the lodge 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 137 



is to do mischief," But you may be bound hand and foot in the 
lodge to measures that you detest, and your oaths make it important 
for you to submit to the majority. How are you to maintain there 
your Christian standards? Many of you leave when you find the 
lodges going in unchristian courses. Why cannot you help keep 
young men from going into paths you find so rough? Why cannot 
you open your lips and say to all who are out, Stay out? 

If Euripides, who was once nearly torn to pieces by an Athenian 
audience because supposed to ridicule certain mysteries of ancient 
secret societies, were here, he would advise those who are outside 
of secret societies to stay out. If Socrates were here, he would 
advise you to stay out. If the Apostles were here, they would say: 
"Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." "Give no of- 
fense, that the ministry be not blamed." If Christ, our Lord, were 
here, he would say, "I spake ever openly. In secret I have said 
nothing." 

The experience of many generations justifies those Churches 
which oppose secret oaths, and those commonwealths which have 
made them illegal, and the scores of eminent statesmen, preachers 
and reformers who have warned the world against them. As Wen- 
dell Phillips used to say, "A secret society under our free govern- 
ment is not needed for any good purpose, and can be used for any 
bad purpose." Let those who are outside of oath-bound secret so- 
cieties stay out. I exhort you to stay out in the name of personal 
independence; stay out in the name of patriotism; stay out in the 
name of Christianity. And to those who are inside oath-bound 
organizations, I say, Come out as patriots; come out as Christians; 
come out as unmanacled men. 



CHAPTER XH. — BRIEF TESTIMONIES. 

Socrates, Diogenes, Agesilaus, and Epaminondas, eminent men 
among the ancients, never partook of the mysteries. They con- 
demned them for their methods, their principles and their associa- 
tions. 



138 The Secret Lodge System 



George Washington, having an inside knowledge of Masonry, 
in his farewell address to his countrymen, warns them against the 
character, workings and danger of all such associations to civil 
government. 

Dr. Howard Crosby, Chancellor of the University of New 
York: "Secret societies are pretenses, and thus at war with truth,, 
candor and manliness." 

Dr. Thomas Arnold, of Rugby: "These half-heathen clubs, in- 
cluding, above all, Freemasonry, are, I think, utterly unlawful for 
a Christian man." 

Bishop Hamline of M. E. Churches, Diary, 1848: "North Ohio 
Conference has progressed rapidly till this time, but Masonry and 
Odd-Fellowship have arrested us. They are a bane in the midst of 
us, and have done us much harm." 

John Hancock: "I am opposed to all secret associations." 

Samuel Adams: "I am decidedly opposed to all secret societies 
whatever." 

Thaddeus Stevens: "By Freemasonry, trial by jury is trans- 
formed into an engine of depotism and Masonic fraud." 

Wendell Phillips: "Every good citizen should make war on 
all secret societies, and give himself no rest until they are forbidden 
by law and rooted out of existence." 

Edward Everett: "A secret society so widely diffused and con- 
nected as this, puts a vast power, capable of the most dangerous 
abuse, into hands irresponsible to the public." 

General U. S. Grant: "All secret oath-bound political parties 
are dangerous to any nation, no matter how pure or how patriotic 
the motives and principles which first bring them together." 

Chief Justice John Marshall: "The institution of Masonry 
ought to be abandoned as one capable of much evil, and incapable 
of producing any good which might not be effected by safe and 
open means." 

President Millard Fillmore, John C. Spencer and others: "The 
Masonic fraternity tramples upon our rights, defeats the administra- 
tion of justice, and bids defiance to every government which it 
cannot control." 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 



139 



John Quincy Adams: "I am prepared to complete the demon- 
stration before God and man, that the Masonic oaths, obligations 
and penalties cannot by any possibility be reconciled to the laws 
of morality, of Christianity, or of the land." 

Disraeli Lord Beaconsfield: "In conducting the governments 
of the world there is not only sovereigns and ministers, but secret 
orders to be considered, which have agents everywhere — reckless 
agents, who countenance assassination, and, if necessary, can pro- 
duce a massacre." 

Charles Sumner: "I find two powers here in Washington in 
harmony, and both are antagonistical to our free institutions, and 
tend to centralization and anarchy — Freemasonry and slavery; and 
they must both be destroyed if our country is to be the home of 
the free, as our ancestors designed it." 

Gerrit Smith, in an address, 1870: "Masonry murdered Mor- 
gan. If it could not conceal his murderers, it nevertheless protected 
them. It overrode the laws of the land and ruled the courts and 
ballot-boxes. Moreover, it is capable of repeating the crimes. Why 
then should we not dread secret societies, and do what we can to 
bring them to an end?" 

Dwight L. Moody: "I do not see how any Christian, most of 
all a Christian minister, can go into these secret lodges with unbe- 
lievers. They say they can have more influence for good, but I 
say they can have more influence for good by staying out of them, 
and then reproving their evil deeds. Abraham had more influence 
for good in Sodom than Lot had. If twenty-five Christians go into 
a secret lodge with fifty who are not Christians, the fifty can vote 
anything they please, and the twenty-five will be partakers of their 
sins. They are unequally yoked with unbelievers. 'But, Mr. 
Moody,' some say, 'if you talk that way you will drive all the mem- 
bers of secret societies out of your meetings and out of your 
churches.' But what if I do? Better men will take their places. 
Give them the truth anyway, and if they would rather leave their 
churches than their lodges, the sooner they get out of the churches 
the better. I would rather have ten members who were separated 
from the world than a thousand such members. Come out from 



140 The Secret Lodge System 



the lodge. Better one with God than a thousand without him. We 
must walk with God, and if only one or two go with us, it is all 
right." 

L. W. Munhall: "I belonged to two secret societies, have 
bumped against nearly all of them, and I know what I am talking 
about. Their sociability and benevolence may be all well enough, 
but they belong to the world. In one to which I belonged, it was 
voted to hold a banquet with champagne and a dance. I protested, 
but was overruled by the majority, and therefore came out from 
among them. Another got up a theatrical performance, and I left 
it. A man came to get me to go back. I told him why I left, and 
that I belonged to the church and would not have fellowship with 
such ungodly performances. He said, 'Don't you know bad people 
who do wicked things in the church?' I said, 'Yes, but when the 
church votes to approve their wickedness, I will get out of the 
church as quickly as I left the lodge.' When a man belongs to 
two or three lodges and attends their weekly meetings, he hasn't 
got any time to go to the prayer meeting, and generally very little 
money to give to the cause of Christ." 

George F. Pentecost: "God's Word prohibits the believer from 
forming alliances with the ungodly in society. Whenever the Chris- 
tian surrenders himself to the society of the unbelieving world, his 
heart will be led away from God. This is especially true of thou- 
sands of Christian men who have deliberately yoked themselves up 
with unbelievers in all manner of secret societies. This course of 
false alliance is doing more mischief to individual Christian men 
by turning their hearts away from God and His service, and to the 
church by depleting and robbing her of her male membership, 
THAN ANY OTHER ONE ENEMY OF CHRIST. There never was 
a time when the cry, 'Come out from among them and be ye 
separate, saith the Lord,' was more needed than now." 

Ex-President Chas. G. Finney: "We have then, the implied 
testimony of Freemasons themselves, that the Christian church 
ought to have no fellowship with Freemasonry as thus revealed, and 
that those who adhere intelligently and determinedly to such an 
institution have no right to be in the Christian church. God de- 



Part III: Eminent Opinion 141 



mands, and the world has a right to expect, that the church will 
take due action and bear a truthful testimony in respect to this 
institution. She cannot now innocently hold her peace. The light 
has come. Fidelity to God and to the souls of men require that the 
church, which is the light of the world, should speak out, and 
should take such action as will plainly reveal her views of the com- 
patibility or incompatibility of Freemasonry with the Christian 
religion." 

This is but a tithe of the testimony that can be adduced. A 
large volume can be filled with like testimonies. They are all of 
undoubted character. They would be heard in any impartial court 
of justice. These testimonies and the preceding facts and argu- 
ments ought to convince any unbiased mind open to the reception 
of truth. 

Many otherwise sincere, truthful and well-disposed persons 
have been unwittingly drawn into this network of Satanic snares. 
The inducements have been many. The allurements are often very 
captivating, especially to the carnal heart. The appeal is made to 
curiosity, self-interest, association, society, the enlargement of one's 
acquaintances, increase of usefulness, the hope of help, promotion, 
popularity, good-will, false representations, the motive of fear, and 
of approbation. Every avenue of the human soul is approached, 
in order that the barriers may be broken down. The secretive ele- 
ment in human nature is fed, and nurtured and cultivated. Most of 
these persons never study the principles, methods, influences or 
tendencies of the secret orders. They are carried along with the 
tide. They remain active or nominal members, and accept what 
good comes along these lines, and omit or excuse what evil they 
may see, or become corrupted by contact with or indulgence in 
wrong. They may quietly drop out and live a trammeled life, bound 
by their obligations, too weak or indifferent to testify against the 
iniquity. If these men were to speak out what they know and feel, 
of if they were to study their own real attitude and relation, the 
testimonies would be increased many-fold against the system. It 
is the mission of this book to multiply in a constantly accelerat- 
ing ratio, the verbal and practical testimony against all dark- 
ness, and in favor of truth, light, and righteousness. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE MUSE 



Introduction. 



There is a poem in everything which God has made. We 
may not see the picture, but it is there. Everything in nature is 
not only "very good," but very beautiful. Like the uncouth rock, 
or the barky trunk of the tree, it needs but the hand of the artist 
to bring out the hidden beauty. We may sing of the stars or the 
dull clods of earth, or any intervening object, and they are all 
redolent with a divine aroma and glory. Evil things may be set in 
contrast with the beautiful images in the Kingdom of God, and 
thus men and angels may be warned and charmed away from 
error and attracted to the true and the good. 

What is poetry? Not all verse. 

1. Poetry is elevated thought. It is not common or ordinary. 
It is above the common. It is tho't in a higher, purer realm. 

2. It is choice expression, not low or vulgar language. It 
is refinement in the use of words, and phrases and sentences and 
paragraphs. It is beauty in word pictures. 

3. It is rhythmical expression. It is stately, and regular in 
its steppings. Its feet are in measured tones. It glides along in its 
words like water over the pebbles in the brooks, it rises and falls 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 143 



like the billows on the ocean, or the undulations of the country 
so pleasant to the eye. It is not flat, or monotonous, or jagged, but 
rises to beautiful views, and falls in graceful cadences. 

4. It is the outward and highest reach, and play, and excur- 
sion of the fancy and imagination. It delves in the earth, it mingles 
with the mines, it sails over the waters, it dives to their depths, 
it floats on the air, it traverses etheral heights, it enters the dome 
of blue in the sky, it mingles with the stars, and takes views of 
the Deity and his abode, and listens to his hosts, and brings back 
their songs to earth. It stands on the verge of the abyjss, and 
sends a plaintive and persuasive voice into the deep darkness of 
that dismal abode. 

5. Poetry is an original conception. The Greeks called it 
an invention, a creation of the imagination. The word poetry means 
to make. Existing material is taken and something new is made. It 
is not a novel, but a novelty, something new. It is a coin fresh from 
the mint of mind. It is the crop of a new year, a new age, a new 
thought. It may be saying the same thing over in a new rhythmi- 
cal form. 

6. It is an appeal not only to the fancy and imagination, 
but also to the emotions. Some of the most touching strains that 
move human hearts are the verses recited or set to music. There 
is no heart proof against the power of song. The strains of the 
poet excite the wildest passions of love or hate. The one is use, 
the other abuse. 

7. Poetry is also an appeal to and a gratification of the 
sense and taste of the beautiful, in form, in thought, in expres- 
sion. The true poet dwells in the world of beauty. He sees, ad- 
mires and expresses and recommends beauty. He calls out this 
element latent or active in every soul. Beauty primarily refers 
to what is pleasing and attractive to the eye. But by an easy 
transition it is applied to all the senses and to the understanding. 
Percival says: 

"So beauty, armed with virtue, bows the soul with a com- 
manding, but a sweet control. 1 ' It is a vehicle of Truth. This 
is the primary office of Poetry. Its mission is to present the 



144 The Secret Lodge System 



Truth in an attractive form, and by its rhythm and rhyme to aid 
the memory and impress the heart. Hence Job, the Psalms, Pro- 
verbs, Canticles and much of the prophets are in the form of 
Hebrew poetry. The finest strains in all languages are found in 
the realm of Poetry. The conception has been known from the 
earliest historic ages. 

Poets are not made, but born. The gift may be cultivated and 
improved, but it cannot be mechanically imparted. It requires 
special natural endowments in large development. These are acute 
senses, ideality, imagination, time, constructiveness, language, ar- 
dent love of the pure and beautiful, memory, and a fine discrimina- 
tion. 

There are three forms of the poem. These are the Prose 
Poem, the Blank Verse, and the Rhymes. These alj meet the above 
conditions, when they fulfill the proper ideal. 

Poems are intended to be read, studied, recited, chanted, 
acted or sung. Their purpose is the pleasure, the happiness, and 
elevation of mankind in thought, feeling, motive, morals, and 
action. Their tendency is to develope the better nature in the 
human races. It is never the true purpose of poetry to degrade 
or corrupt the mind, heart or life. It is the very reverse. The 
true poet always aims to please, interest, elevate, profit and im- 
prove his readers and hearers. It is the abuse and perversion of 
the poetic gift and spirit of the Muse to degrade, defile or de- 
moralize any subject or person. The Spirit of Poetry is a Divine 
Benediction, and in its proper development, allies the soul more 
closely to the Deity. 

March 6, A. D., 1908. 



1. AN EDEN LIFE. 

I. 

How blest the man whose wish and care, 
A few paternal acres bound 
Content he breathes the native air, 
On his own ground. 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 145 



ii. 

The herds give milk, the fields give bread, 
The flocks his family attire; 
The trees in Summer umber shed, 
In Winter fire. 

III. 

With happy, honest face we find 
His hours, days, years glide sweet away, 
In health of body, peace of mind, 
Without affray. 

IV. 

His soul is undisturbed at night. 
He sleeps, and reads, and thinks and prays; 
In all these things he takes delight 
In open ways. 

V. 

A recreation is his life; 
His meditations have no thorns; 
His home is free from every strife, 
And life adorns. 

VI. 

Thus let me live, tho' little known; 
Thus dearly loved, Oh, let me die! 
Tho' to the world no single stone 
Tells where I lie. 

VII. 

This will be more than earthly crown, 
Or all that secret lodges bring; 
For when I lay my service down 
I shall be king. 

VIII. 

Then in the better home above, 
I shall a happy transport tell; 
And in the atmosphere of love 
For ever dwell. 

Adapted from Pope's "Ode on Solitude," December, 29, 1907. 



146 The Secret Lodge System 



II. TRUE FRIENDSHIP. 

I. 

In Friendship pure is envy's cure. 

Who owns this sacred treasure 
Has certain, lasting pleasure. 

Not bo't with wealth, nor bound to health, 
Nor like the changing weather 
It warms the heart forever. 

II. 

When Fortune's urn at every turn 

Pours joy and happy greetings, 
And brings oft social meetings, — 

When summer friends, for sordid ends, 
Are lavish in their praises, 
The Friend shows common phases. 

III. 

When adverse storms, misfortune's forms 
Mark gloom upon tomorrow, 
And bring lean want and sorrow, — 

When most, indeed, kind friends we need, 
And fickle friendship falters, 
True Friendship never alters. 

IV. 

Should foes arise, that cheat espies 

Our failings with the rabble 
And o'er them all will gabble. 

But this will stand tho' friends may band 
All hope from us to sever, 
And prove the Friend forever. 

V. 

If space arise and dim our eyes, 

That we see not each other, 
Nor meet at all together, 

Yet memory brings upon her wings 
The images we cherish. 
Thus friendships never perish. 

VI. 

If mortal Fate should ope' the gate 



Part IV; The Spirit of the Muse 147 



Through which we all must travel 
Before we can unravel 
The mysteries which no one sees 
This side the mystic river 
Which makes the stoutest quiver; 

VII. 

Then 'round the bed which hides the dead 
Sad forms may often wander, 
And there in sorrow ponder, 

There Friendship may its tribute pay 

Mid tears from souls true hearted, 

To loved ones — the departed. 

VIII. 
'Tis hard by arts to sever hearts, 

If love be cord and token. 

True Friendship ne'er is broken 
Where Virtue grows above all woes. 

Forms may apart be riven, 

But meet again in heaven. 

IX. 

Death's icy hand the heart can stand 
Where every recollection, 
And tombs increase affection. 

For grief refined exalts the mind, 

And death his claim releases, 
Where Friendship but increases. 

X. 

True Friendship know, will truly grow, 
Outside the secret lodges, 

Without dishonest dodges; 

For Christ the Lord, his name adored, 
Will dwell in us for ever 
And from the lodges sever. 



III. THERE IS A HELL. 

I. 

There is a Hell the Word asserts. 



148 The Secret Lodge System 



But if it did not so announce, 

Each soul would still have its deserts. 

Then why the Truth of God denounce? 

It is a fact, 

Tho' we detract, 
That there's a hell as a result 
Of those who in their sins exult. 

II. 

If Hell itself were blotted out, 
A Hell historic still would be. 
A Hell prospective none can doubt, 
Since sin itself brings misery. 

I view with threne 

The awful scene! 
The mind portrays the dreadful sight, 
And pictures sin's eternal blight! 

III. 
It cannot be, there is no Hell 
Where evil spirits doomed shall dwell; 
Since spirits down from heaven fell 
Where they abide is surely Hell. 

I leave the heat 

In my retreat 
And I emerge into the cold 
Where artic frosts eternal hold. 

IV. 

You ask me where the lost shall dwell? 
In the Cesspool of the universe. 
'Tis this that constitutes the Hell 
Where evil only is the curse 

No good will go 

Into that woe. 
The loss of all the joy and bliss 
Awaits the souls who heaven miss. 

V. 
Philosophy the truth proclaims 
In tones so clear that all may know; 
That we may not mistake our aims; 
That sin entails upon us woe; 

That joy and pain 

Will e'er remain; 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 149 



That fire burns and frost congeals 
That fire burns and frost congeals — 

VI. 

Hell simply is a consequence 
Resultant from the lives we live; 
The place assigned of God; and thence 
The soul shall go as fugitive, 

He ran from God, 

Beneath the rod, 
And now in deepest anguish yearns 
Where fiery passion ever burns. 

VII. 

The dark domains of all the dead 
Shall yield the hosts on times great scroll, 
And in that day there shall be read 
The destiny of every soul. 

Two hosts appear: 

This joy, that fear. 
As Satan did the Lodge create, 
His kingdom is a doomed estate. 



IV. THE FORRESTER. 

I. 

The sky is clear 
The eve is here 
And I am near 
The hour of rest. 
A letter came, 
I know the name, 
It is from Mame 
Love gives it zest. 

II. 

The week is past 
Its hours are cast 
With all the last, 
For worst or best. 
And now I come 
To take the sum 



ISO The Secret Lodge System 



Of every crumb, 
And I am blest. 

III. 
In passing hours 
Amid the bowers 
I spent my powers 
In honest toil. 
How blest to find 
A quiet mind 
Of human kind, 
Free from turmoil! 

IV. 
The wind blew hard 
That 'woke the bard 
Who wrote this card 
In forest wide. 
Fear not the breeze 
Among the trees, 
These lines will please 
Those where I bide. 

V. 
The Lodge wins not 
From every cot. 
Love is my lot. 
A wife and child 
Have more for me 
Than I can see 
In midnight glee 
Or revels wild. 
What e'er betide, 
At home I bide. 






V. THE CONTRAST. 

1. 

There is wrong below 
Oh my heart, I know, 
There is no wrong above. 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 151 



ii. 

There is sickness here 
And it oft is near 
There is healing balm above. 

III. 
There are clouds in life 
Mid the gloom and strife. 
But, the light shines aye above. 

IV. 
There is sorrow now, 
Oft in grief I bow 
All joy is full above. 

V. 

Often doubt is dark 
And I miss my mark. 
Blest assurance reigns above. 

VI. 

There is want in time, 
Often want brings crime. 
Great abundance springs above. 

VII. 

Here dark fears abound 
And our paths they hound. 
But there are no fears above. 

VIII. 
There are foes on earth 
They are found from birth, 
All, all are true friends above. 

IX. 
All have seen deceit 
With a smile it will cheat 
Deceit is not found above. 

X. 

Earth is stained with sin 
O'er the best it may win. 
It is free from sin above. 



152 The Secret Lodge System 



XI. 
There is wrath below 
In the angry glow 
There is only good will above. 

XII. 

There is death on this earth 
For the greatest worth. 
There is life, life above. 

XIII. 
Here dark schemes await 
At our very gate 
There are no schemes above. 

XIV. 
Here the lodges wear 
A face that is fair 
There are no lodges above. 

XV. 

There are no hidden signs 
Where the daylight shines 
In all the bright worlds above. 

XVI. 
In the depths of the lost 
All the lodge men are tos't 
No lodge men are found above. 

XVII. 

And my song is true; 
The Word brings this to view. 
In its precepts from above. 
Dec. 31, 1907. 



VI. IN THE LIGHT. 

I. 

Oh, do not join the Lodge, 
The secret Lodge 

For it is made to dodge 
A secret dodge. 



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153 



ii. 

The Lodge misleads the soul 

The honest soul. 
And those the Lodge controls 

Are on death's rolls. 

III. 

There is the higher light 
Of truth and right. 

Those need no secret screen 
Whose lives are clean. 

IV. 

To purest thoughts arise 
Born of the skies. 

And in the light of day 
Pursue your way. 

V. 

Abhor the secret vow 

Nor vainly bow 
To any altar made 

In dark parade. 

VI. 

Soon will earth's race be run, 
Life's work be done. 

Will you in light and love 
Then live above? 

VII. 

If now you love the night, 
And shun the light, 

How can you hope to gain 
The blest Domain? 



VIII. 

The Lord is in the light 

In Him is might; 
And whom the Son makes free, 

In joy His face shall see. 



154 The Secret Lodge System 



VII. THE WISER WAY. 

I. 

The world of men should wiser grow, 
As it is growing old in years, 
For age should wisdom bring, we know, 
As Autumn brings the golden ears. 

II. 
By all mistakes that men have made, 
By all the knowledge they have gained, 
A broader basis should be laid 
For Righteousness to be maintained. 

III. 

That Truth and Right for years have gained 
Increasing sway, we must admit, 
Now shall we lose what is attained, 
And hoary error Truth outwit? 

IV. 

All human learning earth now owns, 
And may command the Law Divine; 
Then may we not in clearer tones 
The Way of Truth for all define? 

V. 

I say by errors men commit, 
By all the failures they recount, 
Some lessons for the world are writ, 
To add to Wisdom's true account. 

VI. 

In every channel Truth may flow 
To sweep out error, bring in right. 
That Heaven may have the sway below, 
And lead the world in Freedom's light. 

VII. 
The noblest heroes in our ken, 
As Moses, Christ, impetuous Paul, 
As Luther, Goodyear, Morse and Penn 
Enforce the lesson I would call. 






Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 155 



VIII. 

A Washington and those who clung 
Around the banner then unfurled, 
Severest truths from ages wring 
And cast them out to free the world. 

IX. 
The God of Justice is our trust, 
As we strike boldly out for Right; 
We rest not till wrong trails in dust 
And it is buried out of sight, 
And floats the Flag in Freedom's light. 

X. 

When Earth has won the golden day, 
And equal rights are owned by all, 
Then Truth and Justice shall have sway 
And tyranny shall have its final fall. 

XI. 

I hail with joy the gladsome day, 
When every soul will be a lord; 
When, pride and passion done away, 
No one but Christ will be adored. 

XII. 

Then boasted wealth will not be known 
To buy anl sell the souls of men, 
Nor will it ever then be shown 
That men will congregate in secret den. 

XIII. 

All will be open, free and frank, 
And none the other will undo; 
Then Honesty will mark each rank 
And each to all will then be true. 

XIV. 
The Secret Lodge will die away, 
Where no advantages are sought; 
For none the other will betray, 
But all our works in love be wrought. 

1861-1892-1897, Dec. 31. 



156 The Secret Lodge System 



VIII. IN THE RIGHT. 

I. 

Graceful yield when in the wrong 
Never cling to error long, 
Hasten to be in the right 
In this vesture take delight. 

II. 
Only fools in error go, 
When the Truth they fairly know. 
Wisdom always chooses truth, 
In our manhood or our youth. 

III. 

When in Right then do not yield; 
Bravely keep the open field 
Constant, press the covert foe, 
Steadfast, onward, upward go. 

IV. 
Surely you will win at last, 
Holding Truth in honor fast. 
Keep your armor clean and bright, 
Fighting treason in the light. 

V. 

If you dally in the dark, 
Then you're in the villian's bark; 
In the light the Lord directs, 
And the angel host protects. 

VI. 

"In the light" is meant the right, 
Truth and Duty win the fight. 
Moral darkness stands for wrong, 
Which, alas, has triumphed long. 

VII. 
Onward go with keen delight; 
God will guide you in the right. 
Oh, avaunt all ways of wrong, 
None in error can be strong. 
Dec. 22, 1892, N. Robinson, O. 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 157 



IX. THE REIGN OP CHRIST. 

I. 

The first of all the secret lodges, 
The first of all Satanic dodges, 
Was first set up above in heaven 
Where he devised this evil leaven. 

II. 

It is not reason to suppose 
That Satan would at once expose 

To public view, 

As something new, 
The scheme he formed against the Lord, 
To draw the Angels from God's Word. 

III. 
At first he broached with craft his plan, 
Admitted few his scheme to scan, 
And only such as he could win, 
And hold to work his secret sin. 

IV. 
Until some headway they had made, 
Had a sufficient force arrayed, 
To be successful in their raid, 
And then their dark domain enlarge, 
Then he would authorize the charge. 

V. 

But as the atmosphere above 



VII. 
This habitation was the earth, 
And thus the lodges had their birth. 



Did not accord with this dark move, 
There was resistance to his scheme. 
He failed in this, his highest dream. 

VI. 

So all his host were put to rout, 

And were together all cast out; 

Cast out to dwell in lower realm 

Where darkness would the host o'erwhelm. 



158 The Secret Lodge System 



Here Satan plies 

In dark disguise 
By open and by covert means 
The plots devised behind the screens. 

VIII. 

He mingles good and evil things, 
And thus he gives to evil wings 
To fly in earth and fly in air 
And plant dominion everywhere. 

IX. 

He spoils the home, he spoils the church, 
And every state he does besmirch. 

He enters schools 

With his dark rules 
And ofen makes the wisest fools. 

X. 

The Lodge is Satan's masterpiece, 

Tho' his domain is but a lease, 

Which will expire when Christ shall reign, 

In splendor thro' the whole domain. 

XI. 
The basis of this kingdom lies 
Where darkness clouds e'en angel eyes. 
But where the Christ his love imparts 
The Secret Lodge at once departs. 

XII. 
The two will not together dwell, 
The day will always night dispel, 
The only way to rid the earth 
Of evil is through the new birth. 

January 1, 1908, North Robinson, Q^io. 



X. BUILD ON "THE ROCK. 

I. 

In the kil 

There stood a mill 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 



159 



At the owner's will. 
But when the storm was past 
It was a wreckage of the flood and blast. 

II. 

In the ken 

Of foolish men 

True Wisdom may not, then, 
With them have primal place; — 
And then a sad disaster wins the race. 

III. 

Wise alarms 

Are safety's charms 

And doubtful fear disarms. 
True Wisdom builds on high 
And thus will all the floods and storms defy. 

IV. 

Then rejoice 

In Wisdom's choice, 

For certain is her voice; 
Thus we our hearts assure, 
And make a happy destiny secure. 

V. 

Let us not 

Our record blot 

With any darksome plot. 
For if we build aright 
We shall insure our lives in God's great might. 

VI. 
For, indeed, 
They would mislead 
The soul by their dark creed; 
For you must take the vow 
Before you at the inner altar bow. 

VII. 

You know not 

Your future lot 

For all the farther thought 
Is hidden from your sight 
And you are made to walk by a future light. 



160 The Secret Lodge System 



VIII. 

Then beware! 

It is not fair 

To thus the soul insnare 
And place it where the sin 
Adroit an easy victory will win. 

N. Robinson, O., Jan. 1, 1908. 



XI. WE ARE FREE. 

I. 

The myriad insect voices of the night, 
That fill the autumn air with joy and glee, 
The birds in forest, field or Southern flight, 
The beasts untamed that in the wildness roam, 
Or serve submissive, man in every home, 
All join their voices crying "We are free." 

II. 

The grass on upland, hill, or mount or plain, 
The boll, and branch and leaf on every tree, 
The field and forest plants, the golden grain, 
The flowers bright with coronals so fair, 
Whose sweet aroma fills the passing air, 
All waft the chorus onward, "We are free." 

III. 
The winds in merry morn or evening mirth, 
While sweeping thro' the woods or o'er the lea, 
Or caroling around the rolling earth, 
In cheerful song and prelude low and high, 
Oft mounting upward in the open sky 
Sing loud and long and often, "We are free." 

IV. 

The varied streams through many an avenue, 

'Mid flowers and grass roll onward to the sea, 

Oft tinkling like a bell hid from our view 

Of drowsy herds among the forest trees 

All quiet resting on their weary knees, 

In laughing strains trill out that "We are free." 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 161 



v. 

The precious gold in every mint and mine, 
The silver ore in art or coinage free 
The iron belting earth in many a line, 
All other metals in their varied tones, 
The rocks that rib the earth in all the zones, 
Ring out in unison, that, "We are free." 

VI. 
The maddened storms in rushing to and fro, 
Across the land, across the wide, wide sea 
In raving wrath, lay all before them low — 
They hurry on their way as mad as bold, 
And spread their miseries unscared, untold, 
They laugh in mockery that "We are free." 

VII. 

The vapors rising in the deep blue sky. 

Or dripping moisture down on you and me, 

Or floating swan-like as on winds they fly. 

Or standing crystals on the growing grass 

To kiss our feet as on our way we pass, 

All float, and shine and sparkle, "We are free." 

VIII. 
The King of Day, resplendent, glowing sun, 
The Queen of Night in smiles of silver glee, 
Fixed stars, and those that all their circuits run 
The vivid lightning's quick and fiery flash, 
The loud tremendous thunder's awful crash, 
All speak in unmistaken voice "We are free." 

IX. 

The Souls of men in every race and clime, 
What e'er their state or character may be, 
Expressing tho't in prose, or verse, or rhyme, 
They may be white, black, yellow, red or brown 
All by an instinct claim the Royal Crown 
That every human soul on earth is Free. 

X. 

The saints around the throne of God on high, 

And angel hosts in every degree, 

In heaven or hell, in men, beasts, sea or sky 



162 The Secret Lodge System 



Who fly on works of mercy from above, 

Or moved with malice, only evil love, 

But all insist with vehemence that "We are free." 

XI. 

But touch the Realm of Nature anywhere, 

Upon the orbs, the sky, or land, or sea, 

One voice in all the Universe is there, 

From the great throne where the eternal reigns 

Thro' every sphere down to the dark domains, 

Every tone asserts that Mind is Free. 

XII. 

Then why is it that Tyranny has found 
An active sphere on earth in Hell to be? 
Why are so many souls in darkness bound? 
The case is plain, the Secret Lodge has won 
The most of men in ways of sin to run, 
So that the hosts are slaves and are not free. 

XIII. 

The boast of Freedom oft with men is vain, 
Tho' Reason, Instinct both assert the truth, 
Man's Normal state to which he may attain 
Is that of Liberty for age and youth. 
This tho't in men and angels ne'er will down, 
That mind was made to wear a royal crown. 

XIV. 

This will not down, whatever man may be, 
That all the beings God has made are free, 
But still we find Oppression's iron hand, 
With crown and scepter ruling every land. 
We still assert, that we are free, in heart 
And yet we know that this is true but in part. 

XV. 

How shall we change this dark and dreadful state? 
How shall we change this doubt to certainty? 
Or shall we always bear this double fate? 
There is but one who can to freedom lead, 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 



163 



For whom the Son makes free, is free indeed, 

Christ Jesus has a balm for every need, 

Through Christ the races all enslaved may be made free. 

Jan. 2, 1908. 



XII. IN ALL LIFE'S LINES. 



The man whose fight 

Is in the right 

Can take delight 
That in the deepest strife 
No scar shall mar his life. 

II. 

But if his fight 
Is not for right, 
Then all his might, 
Tho' he may win a strife, 
Brings darkness o'er the life. 

III. 
In Eden fair, 
A happy pair 
Had pleasure rare; 

But through Satanic art 

They lost the better, nobler part. 

IV. 
A world renowned, 
To ruin bound, 
Were sadly drowned; 
But Noah's wiser way 
Bro't blessings in his day. 



The brothers sold 
In sin untold 
A son for gold; 
But in the hunger rife 
They came to him for life. 



164 The Secret Lodge System 



VI. 
The tyrant king 
With despot sting 
Great gain would bring 
By taxing Hebrew life, 
But drowned amid the strife. 

VII. 

The seers of old, 
In wise words bold 
Their story told. 
But in the angry strife 
Truth won in every life. 

VIII. 
The Rising Star, 
Is seen afar 
Where Magi are, 
They fled away from strife 
And saw the Sacred Life. 

IX. 
The Son of God 
As earth He trod 
Endured the rod, 

But now enthroned in life 

He is above the strife. 

X. 

Beloved John 
Went nobly on, 
And now we con, 
The messages of life 
He wrote amid the strife. 

XI. 

With good intent 
Wher e'er he went, 
Paul was the sent; 
He lived "The Higher Life" 
Amid the keenest strife. 

XII. 
Throughout all time 



Part IV; The Spirit of the Muse 



165 



In every clime, 

Where free from crime, 
Men 'mid e'en martyr strife 
Won trophies in their life. 

XIII. 
In all life's lines, 
No honor shines 
Where dark designs 

Are wrought to win the strife; 

In Sin stained secret life. 






XIII. QUEER, IS HE? 



I. 

I do my best 
And so invest 
In what I test. 
When I attest 
Some of the rest 
Call me in quest. 

II. 
The Truth I con; 
And will go on 
Her vestments don. 
But it is so, 
Where e'er I go, 
I meet the foe. 

III. 
I may look queer, 
But do not fear, 
For God is near. 
I will be true 
In every view 
My whole life through. 

IV. 
The current strong 
Would lead me wrong 
Amid the throng. 



166 The Secret Lodge System 



I walk in light, 
And take delight 
In doing right. 

V. 

If any rise, 
And ill advise, 
Let me be wise, 
Tho' all my life 
Be but a strife 
With evil rife. 

VI. 
Come words of cheer 
And greet my ear, 
For they are very dear. 
But words of cheer 
I never hear 
From Darkness drear. 

VII. 
But Heaven knows 
Of all my woes 
And favor shows. 
I shall arise 
Among the wise 
To brighter skies. 

Oct. 18, 1893. 



XIV. THE DARKEST THING. 

I. 

The darkest thing upon the earth, 
In Heaven above of nothing worth, 
Is that which takes away from men, 
By shutting up the human ken, 

The opportunity 

Of being fully free. 

II. 
They swear you first then tell the tale 
Although it may be very stale, 






Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 167 



That you must ever, ever hold, 

What is to you thereafter told, 

A secret in your heart 

And never with it part. 

III. 

If I shall ever dare impart 

To others any of this art, 

Except upon conditions given 

That I shall never be forgiven 
But most malignant woe 
Shall in my pathway go. 

IV. 
An open speech is hence denied, 
The secret must in me abide, 
My soul is in the Lodge's hands 
They bind me with their iron bands. 
And I am no more free 
To speak as I may see. 

V. 

Now I am doubly, doubly cursed 

In all in secret I rehearsed. 

It may be right, it may be wrong, 

In either case, why hold it long? 
If it be right, 'tis well, 
If it be wrong, then tell. 

VI. 

The Truth all have the right to know, 
The wrong should not in secret go, 
Who hides the truth wrongs me and him, 
Who hides the wrong is in the crime. 

In either case 'tis plain 

A secret oath is vain. 

VII. 

To bind me with a secret oath, 

So that to break it I am loth. 

Takes from me Manhood's noblest part 

And puts me in the open mart, 
To be bid off by those, 
Who higher forms have chose. 






168 The Secret Lodge System 



VIII. 

Alas! that this should come to pass 

In any realm, in any class, 

That any one should be betrayed 

By artifice so deftly laid, 

To sell his very self 

For but an earthly pelf! 

IX. 

That any one who knows the facts 
Will shadow all his future acts, 
And give away the conscious ray 
Of that eternal inborn day 

Intuitive to soul, 

And barter self control, 

X. 

Is past belief, did not our eyes 

The very fact our souls apprise. 

But we behold the world gone mad, 

In tinsels of the lodges clad, 

And giving faith and fame 
To what should be our shame! 

XI. 

Come out! Come out! Oh wealth of men! 

Each be the open denizen; 

No more the doubtful lodges man 

To carry out this dark Satanic plan. 

Pursue the open way, 

And let the Light and Truth have sway. 

January 3, 1908. 



XV. VILLAGE RHYMES. 
(A Scene in Real Life.) 

I. True and False Religion. 

The most mistaken man in town 
Is he who by his feelings goes, 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 169 



And takes them for religion's gown, 
To save him from his earthly woes, 
And win him an immortal crown. 
Religion is a true delight, 
Is based in knowledge, love and right, 
And is free from prejudice and spite. 

II. The Backbiter. 

The meanest man in all the town 
Is he who to a stranger goes, 
And tries for spite to cry him down 
Whom all the village fully knows 
Is fit to wear a martyr's gown. 
Tho' he is made a shining mark, 
He stands above the dogs that bark, 
And bite and pillage in the dark. 

III. The Unclean. 

The lowest man in all the place 
Is he who slyly wanders 'round, 
That he may drag to deep disgrace 
Some woman he has wanton found 
Or he can start the downward race, 
From innocence and virtue's way 
Ensnared by his magnetic sway, 
And then the trusting heart betray. 

IV. The Falsefier. 

The dangerous man in all the town, 
Or woman it perchance may be, 
Who fearing not Jehovah's frown 
All thoughtless of eternity, 
And higher impulse basely drown, 
Will lie for gain, will lie for spite, 
Will lie for fun, and lie outright, 
Will lie by day, will lie by night. 

V. The Slanderer. 

Beware of him who slander starts. 
Who with his tongue a friend maligns. 
That tongue is whetted by the arts 
Of darkness; and its deep designs 



170 The Secret Lodge System 



Have broken many tender hearts 
Have separated constant friends 
Have brought about unholy ends 
For which there may be no amends. 

VI. Tale Bearing. 

In many ways a troublous one 
Is he or she who carries tales; 
From door to door, behold her run 
To scandal spread, she never fails, 
And with address the work is done. 
With fuel scarce the fires burn low, 
Where tattling dies, strife will not grow, 
But peace, good will and love will flow. 

VII. Sabbath Desecration. 

Oh, what a wicked man is he 
Who disregards the Sabbath Day. 
In other sins you will him see 
Who does this sacred trust betray 
To God he does not bow the knee, 
But worships at the shrine of earth; 
He disregards the heavenly birth, 
And makes his life a moral dearth. 

VIII. The Dance. 

A foolish crowd are those who dance; 
Here men and women join in play, 
And oft late hours will pass away. 
No higher good do they advance, 
But oft the snares of sin entrance. 
True exercise is better found, 
In works which will bring good around 
Where Conscience never will be drowned. 

IX. Night Lounging. 

Much better be at home at night 
Than lounging in some public place, 
Indulging smut, or making light 
Of those who err, or those who grace 
The better ways, and seek the right. 
All persons err, but he is best, 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 111 



Who honors, helps and loves the rest, 
And rises high above low jest. 

X. Idleness. 

The day is lost if idly spent, 
And Satan leads the idle soul; 
Of sin the idler must repent, 
If he would win the happy goal. 
All time is gold. To us 'tis lent. 
Once gone, time never comes again 
It passes far from human ken, 
Oh never waste the moments, then. 

XI. Drunkenness. 

Oh, what a misled man we see, 
Who follows up from day to day, 
W'hile boasting often, "I am free," 
The drunkard's dreadful downward way! 
The world together must agree 
That myraids are doomed to woe, 
That troops on troops still onward go, 
To fill the dark domains below. 

XII. Theft. 

And what a worthless wretch we name, — 
The man who pilfers things at night. 
By day he marks with stealth his game, 
And then when eve shuts out the light, 
All heedless of the sin and shame, 
He carries off his ill got spoils, 
Rewards of other's honest toils, — 
Thus honest industry he foils. 

XIII. Blasphemy. 

Take not the name of God in vain. 
Thus voices out the law divine. 
The statutes of the state are plain. 
They place upon the oath a fine. 
To swear is rude. It is no gain. 
The wit's a wretch who swears an oath, 
The habit's an abnormal growth, 
Condemned by Truth and Reason both. 



172 The Secret Lodge System 



XIV. Vulgarity. 

The Vulgar tongue denies the souls 
Of all who hear th' indecent voice; 
The language shows what him controls, 
And what the man has made his choice; — 
That he is drifting on the shoals, 
A wreckage on the sea of time, 
A guilty soul enchained in crime, 
Condemned by law the most sublime. 

XV. Sectarianism. 

There is a struggle for the sect, — 
Far more than for the love of God. 
Their utmost efforts they direct 
To prove they're with the gospel shod. 
While many priceless souls are wrecked. 
They cry, "Our church must not go down," 
Tho' many souls may miss the crown, 
And in confusion Conscience drown. 

They watch each other earnestly, 
They watch each other more than sin, 
They each the other's foibles see, 
And shout if they a convert win 
From other rank their own to be, 
More than they do to gather in 
The wayward souls from ranks of sin 
And thus confuse the people with this din. 

XVI. The Hidden Hand. 

The secret oath so many take, 
And do not know before they vow, 
The nature of the pledge they make, 
The altar at whose shrine they bow, 
Should all to conscious guilt awake. 
For every secret oath beguiles 
The human soul with doubtful smiles, 
And brings it under Satan's wiles. 

The Lodge is an abnormal state, 

In which the minds of men are bound; 

And speech but shares an equal fate, 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 173 



And Freedom is an empty sound, 
Which here in sadness I relate. 
For all degrees above the rest, 
Are for the upper class a nest 
Where they the lower class invest. 

The Lodge puts up a hedge between 
The father and his family. 
He cannot now himself demean 
As when his conscious soul was free. 
Now he must guard the world unseen 
With utmost care from wife and child, 
Must check the questioning most mild, 
Lest he be "perjured villian" styled! 

The Church is now a second mate, 
And as it were a concubine, 
And stands at an inferior rate, 
The love for Christ will hence decline. 
A new love now claims the estate, 
The secret oath will bear the sway; — 
No more the radiant beam of day 
Can shine with undiminished ray. 

And Civics now are but the means 
To circumvent some selfish ends. 
The laws of state are second leans, 
The Lodge's claim he first attends. 
The Secret Lodge from all else weans. 
It claims in man the highest place; 
All other claims it will efface, 
If it thereby may win the race. 

"The Hidden hand" in all the land 
In many a concert, many a band, 
All drill by day, and drill by night 
That they may make a final fight, — 
To make a false religion one, 
And rule the earth without the Son, — 
Then darkness will the earth o'er spread 
And all by Satan's power be led. 



174 The Secret Lodge System 

XVI. THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 

2 Thess., 2:7. 

I. 

I am free from the breakers that men in stealth build, 
Which but curb the true spirit or lead it astray 
I am free from the arts in which many are skilled, 
That make man not a man but a tool in the fray. 

II. 

I am small and obscure but withall I am free, 
For I can not be true, if my mind is controlled, 
By a System, Jehovah, not nurtured by Thee, 
Be it born but of late, or descending of old. 

III. 

A Thermusis I love for the care she has shown, 
But this crown she so queenly has placed on my head, 
I will moodily tread in the dust, and be known 
As the son of the mother so dear who my infancy fed. 

IV. 

Tyrant Gesler with tyranny ruled o'er the Swiss, 
And with artfulness toiled that he might crush out Tell; 
But my isoul, oh base king, if the apple I miss 
A deft arrow reserved will thy tyranny quell. 

V. 

The whole System of tyranny is a base fraud. 
And misleads every soul that it wins in the dark; 
Though the men of the earth to the heavens may laud, 
Yet it has of "The Mystery" surely the mark. 

VI. 

But the Right in True Wisdom will better defend, 
Than revenge we may take in defeating our foes; 
Let us then on the arm of the Master depend, 
While in Faith and in Righteousness error oppose. 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 



175 



XVII. RESISTANCE DEFINED. 

I. 

A man or a woman may fight 
In defense of a natural right; 
This is taught to the world in the word- 
In the voice of the soul this is heard. 

II. 

The same truth in the Reason is taught 
In the web of all things it is wrought. 
All the trees of the forest swing back 
When the storm has passed by in its track, 

III. 

And the steel springs again and again, 
When disturbed by the power of men, 
But if anger incite the misdeed, 
Or if malice impassionate lead. 

IV. 

Or if selfishness prompt to the fight, 
Then the soul is misled from the right. 
Be assured all unfairness is wrong, 
And the right is not always the strong. 

V. 

If ambition should make the demand, 
That dread carnage lay waste any land, 
Causing loss of the labor of years, 
This is revel in blood and in tears. 

VI. 

If a burglar attack you at home, 
Or assassin lie wait as you roam, 
Then the law of defense in the right, 
Is that man, as a man, may make fight. 



VII. 

But the best, if we may, is to wait, 
Till we can in the case arbitrate, 



176 The Secret Lodge System 



On the base of true justice and law, 
And detect where there may be a flaw. 

VIII. 

But a generous thought for the foe, 
Should inspire every heart here below. 
For our end in defense of the right, 
Is not wrath, tho' we win in the fight. 






XVIII. THE LIVING TEMPLE. (In three parts.) 
PART I. 

I. 

How sweet to roam in solitude, 
To wander in the ancient wood, 
Where strong in Nature's hardihood, 
This Living temple long has stood, 
In grandeur all the cycling years. 
The ages past are all of yore, 
Their waves are wasting every shore, 
As nations sweep the dismal door, 
As dies the cannon's loudest roar; 
But this weired temple still appears. 

II. 

These forests win the 'wildered eye, 
High up on cliffs they pierce the sky, 
They jut o'er rocks and hang awry, 
Amazed their numbers I would try 
While musing in their mystic shade. 
The fan-like ferns enshroud my knees, 
The mosses fringe the rocks and trees, 
The grass and herbs my senses please 
The boom low murmurs with the bees, 
While all in beauty God has made. 

III. 

The cawing crow from yonder tree, 
The jabbering jay so blithe and free, 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 



177 



The wren and robin near me, 

In all their warbling notes agree, 

And fill this court with wondrous song. 

High o'er the scene the hawk floats by, 

And sends its scream from out the sky. 

The winds in voice now low, now high, 

Bear far away a pensive cry, 

And all the symphony prolong. 



PART II. 



IV. 

I sit entranced amid the scene, 

My soul is lit with heavenly sheen, 

My heart-pulse quickens, in the mean, 

And I with awe myself demean, — 

My soul assents that God is near. 

I climb upon a solid rock, 

And bow to neither stone or stock, 

But with my Maker interlock, 

And feel the impulse of a sacred shock, 

And thus am conscious God is here. 

V. 

I hear the streamlet's purling sound, 
I see its waters whirl around, 
From giddy heights, with awful bound, 
It wildly leaps to lower ground. 
And lashed to foam it flees away. 
The mists arise in splendor high, 
And from a rainbow in the sky, 
They fall in spray on what is nigh 
And the baptismal rite apply, 
Thro' all the night, and all the day. 



VI. 

Oft would I to this court repair. 
To hear the songs and offer prayer, 
To free my soul from earthly care, 
To breathe a pure and healthful air, 



178 The Secret Lodge System 



And with the Infinite commune. 
This temple is a blest retreat, 
Where I may hosts of angels greet, 
The purity of Nature meet, 
Find "holy ground" beneath my feet, 
And all my life with God attune. 



PART III. 

Reflections. 



VII. 

Here I may bring my wife and child, 
And all my friends, and in this wild, 
Together share joy undefiled, 
And no objection will be filed, 
And no discordant note annoy. 
The lame, the blind, the poor of earth, 
Those clad in sorrow or in mirth, 
Are estimated at their worth, 
And freedom gives an ample berth, 
And none the secret art employ. 

VIII. 

This temple has an open door, 
Its port is guarded never more, 
It is all free from shore to shore, 
And offers all its varied store 
Without a pledge, or oath, or vow. 
You pay not when you enter here, 
It is wide open all the year, 
There is no guard you need to fear, 
The Hand of God is always near, 
And freedom will to all allow. 

IX. 

I'd rather this than all the dens, 
With tylered doors and mock amens, 
That men may masquerade in pens,* 
That they may be lodge denizens, 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 179 



And worship in a dark domain. 

The voice of Nature ever cries 

To men to open be and wise, 

To seek the truth with open eyes, 

And all deception to despise, 

And from all secret oaths abstain. 

May 7, 1893. Jan. 8, 1908. 

♦Degrees. 



XIX. SELLING SECRETS. 

By Rev. P. B. Williams. 

Secrets to sell, secrets to sell! 
Secrets no human tongue dare tell! 
Come pay the fees and gain the prize; 
No fraud is seen by "hoodwinked" eyes. 

Come march around this "sacred" hall, 
And hearken to the "Master's call;" 
From "west to east" your pathway lies, 
In search of light with "hoodwinked eyes.' 

From "west to east, from east to west," 
The new "hoodwinked" Masonic guest, 
Around, around in search of light, 
Doth travel in a sorry plight. 

Low he bows before the altar, 
Cable towed with hempen halter; 
Then sware upon his naked knee 
To keep the things he cannot see. 

And now to close this bargain dear 
They bid the "hoodwinked never fear;" 
For soon from darkness into light 
They will restore his blinded sight. 

And now they form upon the square, 
And with profanity they dare 
To use the living words of God, 
Not fearing his avenging rod. 



180 The Secret Lodge System 



The Master says, let there be light; 
They clap and stamp with all their might, 
And give the Grand Masonic shock, 
Like blasting some tremendous rock. 

And now the "hoodwinked" sees too late 
The hardness of his fettered fate; 
His money's gone, his conscience bound; 
But not a secret has been found. 

He sees at once he has been cheated; 
All search for light has been defeated, 
And find, to him, 'tis not so funny 
Thus to be swindled of his money. 

'Tis true, they say, your light is little, 
And what you've paid is a mere tittle; 
But mount the ladder higher still, 
And you with light we then will fill. 

He pays his fees and higher rises, 
In search of all Masonic prizes, 
Until his senses, steeped in night, 
All darkness he imagines light. 

ADd then he struts around the earth, 
Proud of his new Masonic worth, 
And hopes by his Masonic love, 
To gain the blest Grand Lodge above. 

And thus deluded on he goes, 
Proud of the steps by which he rose, 
Not knowing that those steps do end 
Where hope and mercy never blend. 

And when he stands in judgment great, 
Filled with all his secret hate, 
He will find in that convention 
He's been sold at a mock auction. 

Secrets to tell, secrets to tell! 
Will then ring through the deepest hell, 
And the shriek of utter despair 
lorever disclose the secrets there. 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 



181 



Secrets to tell, secrets to tell! 
Resounding through the depths of hell; 
We've paid the fees and gained the prize; 
The "hoodwinked" soul forever dies. 



XX. THE REAL REMEDY. 



When all are open, free and frank, 
And none the others will outdo, 
When honesty marks every rank, 
And each to others will be true, 
Then Christ will reign in every heart, 
And to each he will his joy impart. 

II. 

The Secret Lodge will die away 
Where no advantages are sought; 
Then none the other will betray, 
And all our works in love be wrought. 
Then will the smiles of Heaven rest 
Upon the earth and all be blest. 

III. 

When all our hearts are free from guile 
When none will use unholy art, 
When every home enjoys heav'ns smile, 
When none will take the Lodge's part, 
Then we'll be free from its Domain, 
And in the Light of Heaven remain. 
Feb. 6, 1908. 



XXI. THE NEMESIS. 



I. 

There is a noble element, 

Which is to man from Heaven sent. 

We sometimes call it dire revenge 



182 The Secret Lodge System 



When malice does a wrong avenge, 
And is Satanic in its ends — 
To degradation always tends. 

II. 

But in the higher "realm of thought" 
Where all in truth and love are wrought 
We vindicate the truth by right, 
And never simply by our might, 
Or mechinations in the night. 

III. 

To nobly rectify the wrong 

By all the Wisdom Heav'n imparts 

In life, or argument or song 

In all the world's great, open marts, 

This, this is holy and Divine, 

And this Revenge alone is mine. 

IV. 

Nor in Retaliation's garb 

Would I in this my task appear, 

But with the Truth's most pointed barb 

Would I attract each listening ear, 

Conviction stamp on every heart, 

So fast that it will not depart. 

Yes, I have cast a net of love, 

How ever harsh the web may seem; 

I recognize the Power Above, 

And have not written in a dream; 

Long years of toil have brought me facts, 

And love for souls prompts all my acts. 

VI. 

No spite shall taint the work I've done, 
Nor anger spoil this structure fair. 
Then when the victory is won, 
I shall a crown of glory wear — 
A crown with many stars beset, — 
Where joy supreme will not be let. 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 183 



VII. 

Come, then abandon darksome ways, 
And walk in truth and heavenly light. 
There's danger deep in doubt's delays; 
There's safety in the path of right. 
Then linger not where Satan reigns, 
Come out upon the Open plains. 



XXII. THE FASTNESSES OF FREEDOM. 
Adapted From Wm. Cullen Bryant's Antiquity. 

Behold these trees, tall oaks and waving pines! 

They stream with mosses green and gray, and vines. 

Here, here, the ground was never touched with spade. 

The flowers spring up in mountain, vale and glade. 

They die ungathered by the hand of man. 

The pearling waters over pebbly bottoms ran, 

Where bounding deer, and cat-like panther came, 

And untaught savages and dusky dame, 

All came alike betimes to Quench their thirst, 

In winter time or when the spring buds burst. 

How sweet to linger 'mong the flitting birds! 

The joy of soul can not be told in words! 

The merry squirrel, sighing winds and babbling brooks 

The fragrant air that visits all the crooks, 

The ferns and berries growing every year, 

Without the touch of hoe or hand or shear, 

Entrance the soul and captivate the eye and ear. 

All, all these undisturbed and quiet shades 

Old, peaceful thro' unnumbered past decades, 

Of which no record on the scroll appears, 

Of all the mystic scenes of countless years, 

Point back to primal days of Liberty, 

Implanted in the heart of man by Deity. 

O Freedom, thou art not an idle dream, 
Nor fearful dame who at a mouse will scream, 
Light-hearted, delicate in every limb, 
With wavy tresses, dressed all neat and trim, 
As Roman masters trigged their tutor'd slaves, 
To put them in the market, or their graves. 



184 The Secret Lodge System 



Thou art a stalwart man armed to the teeth 

Wearing before the world the victor's wreath; 

Thou art by all humanity adored. 

Mark, this hand grasps the shield and that the sword. 

Thy brow is glorious with beauty rare; 

Thou are among the fairest of the fair, 

It matters not that thou art marked with wounds of war. 

Thy massive limbs are strong, and will be so for evermore. 

The powers of earth and hell at thee have cast 

Their bolts and lightnings oft and thick and fast, 

And they have sorely smitten thee at times, 

And have committed 'gainst thee horrid crimes, 

But they can never quench the life from heaven — 

Thy life remains, and will the whole earth leaven. 

Dark foes have dug the dungeons deep, 

That they might Freedom mercilessly keep. 

Lo, they have built a thousand, thousand fires 

That they with flames might satisfy their ires. 

They have with arduous toil forged mighty chains, 

With hosts they've guarded mounts and vales, and plains, 

They boast that Freedom ne'er shall freedom gain, 

That Freedom shall by earth and hell be slain. 

But when they deem thee dead the caverns open wide, 

The chains are broken by the sweeping tide, 

Thy wounds are healed, thy flag the Nation's pride, 

And Freedom's hosts upon the earth abide. 

Thy prison walls fall outward to the ground, 

Thou springest forth in strength with vigorous bound; 

As leaps the flame above the burning pile, 

While shouting to the nations "All in file," 

The struggling nations answer back the cry, 

While pale and disconcerted tyrants fly. 

Thy birth-right was not given by human hands, 
Nor was thy throne set up by midnight bands. 
Thou wert twin-born when time began with man, 
When angels sang with joy the mighty plan. 
In pleasant fields while yet the race was few 
Thou sat'st with man the wondrous stars to view, 
To tend the quiet flocks by day and night, 
To dress and keep the garden with delight, 
To teach the reed to utter simple airs, 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 185 



To comfort man in all of his affairs, 

To wander with him in the tangled wood, 

To meet him in his ways in every mood, 

To teach his hands to war upon the beast, 

That after sin was wont on man to feast, 

To draw the furrows on the mountain side 

When waters of the deluge would subside. 

O Freedom, best companion man e'er knew, 

To thee let every soul be constant, firm and true. 

Bold Tyranny himself was later born, 

Tho' loud and long he blow his winding horn, 

Altho' of reverend look and hoary years, 

And far obeyed by wrong, and blood, and tears, 

He meets the mild defiance of thine eye, 

And trembles in his holds with inward sigh, 

Because he knows the Elder Born on high 

Will wreck his schemes, when coming from the sky. 

Freedom is growing stronger with his years, 
And in his heart knows no enfeebling fears. 
While Tyranny still feebler, feebler grows, 
And trembles when he contemplates his woes. 
He shall go down to darkness and to death 
Swept off the earth by the Almighty Breath, 
Into the dread domain of all the lost 
To be on fiery waves of anguish tos't. 

But still before this era comes to pass, 

Feebler, yet subtler grown, he will enmass 

His forces all to make a desperate charge. 

He will enweave his snares, and them enlarge, 

And spring them on unguarded steps of thine 

And clasp his withered hands on things divine; 

And from their ambush he will call thy foes, 

To pour upon thee all their hellish woes. 

From him shall come quaint masquers fair of mein, 

Who will like Sons of Light themselves demean, 

To catch thy wondering eye and listening ear, 

Using soft speech that indicates no fear. 

While this display of fraudulent deceit 

Is going on, all his sly imps with feet 

As light as air, by stealth will twine around 

Thy sacred form without the slightest sound. 



186 The Secret Lodge System 



Strong threads of steel by all the world unseen, 

Light thread on thread that grow to fetters keen, 

And so bind down thy arms with mighty chains, 

Concealed in chaplets as from blest domains. 

Not yet canst thou unloose thy corselet strings; 

"To arms," are words the Master's message brings. 

O Freedom lay not by thy sword as yet, 

Close not thine eyes in slumber, nor forget, 

Thy foe sleeps not, but ever is awake, 

That he may all advantages partake. 

Know this, that thou must wake and watch and work 

Through all thy coming days, and never shirk, 

Until the day shall come of bright renown, 

"When Truth and Righteousness the earth shall crown. 

But wouldst thou ever rest from toil anon, 

Or ever on a coming battle con, 

Or free thyself from noise and fraud of men, 

Then seek the ancient forests' quiet glen. 

These grand old solitudes invite the free, 

To come and rest beneath the spreading tree. 

When all these trees were young upon the earth, 
And moss on rocks was full of mirth, 
All joined in songs of praise at Freedom's birth. 
The angels knew that from his lofty nights, 
He would bring down to earth divine delights. 
They know the day of God will truly come, 
When Tyranny will be disarmed and dumb. 
That earthly night will turn to heavenly day, 
And Freedom will enjoy eternal sway. 

North Robinson, O., February 11 A. D., 1908. 

Note. — We know that Freedom is an element in the nature of 
the Divine Being. It was implanted in the heart of man at his crea- 
tion. It is here called a birth, and is personified. Freedom had a 
perfect and personal representation, and presentation in the Christ. 
"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." 
True Freedom is attained only by imbibing and maintaining the 
true Doctrine, Spirit and Life of the Christ. The forests were God's 
first temples. In the woods and fields we possibly come nearer to 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 187 



God than in any other place. This is doubtless why Christ went 
oft into the mountain and into the Garden among the trees to pray. 
But one can worship God truly anywhere if he will, or can do so 
in spirit and in truth. But there are some places on earth as in 
the lodge room, the saloon, the bawdy house, in the stock market or 
around the gambling table, or in a den of thieves, where it would 
be exceedingly difficult for any one to engage in serious thought, or 
the devout worship of God. The writer holds and teaches that 
there is freedom in Heaven. We will remain there because we have 
eternally chosen the Divine Right. And the training and discipline 
we pass through here, will make it certain that we will never be 
induced to deviate from the line of truth and righteousness. Of 
course there will be no more inducement to us to sin in heaven than 
there was for Satan and the angels that followed him. And we will 
have the advantage of that catastrophe to warn us against any such 
folly. After the sufferings of this life, as the consequences of sin, 
it is morally certain that we will have no disposition or desire to 
go over the same road again, after what we have suffered here and 
enjoy hereafter. God's purpose in this life is to train human beings 
so that they can be trusted absolutely in any realm or situation in 
the Universe, so that he may with certainty depend upon any of 
his creatures in whatever position they may be placed. It seems that 
all of his intelligent creatures have been placed in a position of test, 
trial or temptation. It can not be otherwise in the very nature of 
God and man and angels. The will implies a power of 
choice. And this choice must of necessity extend to good 
and evil, the one being the opposite of the other. Some 
are puzzled as to what evil is. This is very simple. Truth 
is good; falsehood is evil. To worship God is good; to worship 
other objects is evil. To worship in spirit and in Truth is good, 
to worship through or by means of idols is evil. To Reverence 
God is good, to blaspheme is evil. To properly rest the first day 
of the week is good, to toil seven days of the week is evil. To 
honor our parents is good, to dishonor them is evil. To save life 
is good, to murder in thought, word or act is evil. Purity is good; 
impurity, evil. 



188 The Secret Lodge System 



XXIII. A WARNING WAIL. 

I. 

There is a song divine in every thing 

That lives in earth, or floats upon the wing. 

If we attentive listen we will hear 

That voice of song divine for every ear. 

The hard, dull clod that lies upon the earth, 

Has in it elements of joy and birth. 

It needs but to be touched by hand sublime, 

And it will sing with simple song or chime 

Some precious gem or flow'ret fair, 

Some life of vaule, grain, or fruitage rare 

Lies hidden in the clod for which we may not care. 

II. 

We upward look into the misty deep, 
When men are all awake, or when they sleep, 
And we behold the outstretched, deep, blue sky, 
In grand array, entrancing every eye, 
From brighest orbs to dimmest distant star, 
That glints or gazes on us from afar, 
If we but listen with attentive ear 
We will in each a song distinctly hear. 
For if our hearts are set to tune aright, 
Then no harsh note will e'er the soul affright, 
And all the works of Nature will afford delight. 

III. 
I walk abroad beneath this dome above, 
And see in all the impress of His love. 
The atmosphere lies silent on the ground, 
Nor whispers in my ear a single sound, 
Yet locked securely in its vast embrace, 
We may the lowest, highest octaves trace. 
It moves to us in silence, still it moves, 
And lightly trips through all the chinks and grooves; 
But wait and we will wonder at it's roar, 
O'er mount and vale, thro' forest, field and door, 
With loud mouthed fury lashing waves on every shore. 

IV. 
The time of Spring comes silent from the south, 



Part IV: The Spirit of the Muse 



189 



And with it songsters all with open mouth. 
The birds, with trees and meads and bees all sing, 
And join the rolling river and the gushing spring. 
The stubborn glebe the mellow ground give birth 
To hopeful song and praise for all the earth; 
For when the harvests ripe are gathered in 
Great gratitude is in the larder and the bin. 
These blessings are for all the sons of men, 
For all that live in yard, field, wood or den, 
And those that put the ear close to the glen 
Will hear the song, the chorus and the glad Amen. 

V. 

Each season then has its own varied song 

And heaven and earth the rhythmic notes prolong. 

The changes wro't throughout the rolling year, 

Fulfill celestial purpose ever near, 

Which is that man may rise from mortal fate 

And grow into the most divine estate. 

That man may so develope here below, 

That he in righteousness may ever go, — 

So that when all the songs of earth are done, 

And newer songs in heaven have begun, 

Man may forever in the ways of Wisdom run. 



VI. 

I sadly sing the downward trend of sin, 
And that I may from error's ways souls win. 
Misguided minds in paths of darkness led 
Are on the husks of wisdom poorly fed. 
If we ignore the blissful Light of heaven 
We shall on mystic seas of doubt be driven, 
For ever learning yet the Truth be never found, 
E'en tho' the soul with sinful oaths be bound. 
Amazed I look into that mystic vale, 
Where a slighted Christ is of no avail, 
And lift my voice in pensive song, a warning wail. 

February 18, 1908. 



THE REMEDY 



A Definition. The word remedy is used as a noun, and also 
as a transitive verb. It therefore denotes a thing or an action, or 
both. Primarily the word is a medical term, and signifies that 
which cures any physical disease; any medicine or application which 
puts an end to disease and restores health to the body. Thus we 
say"a remedy for the gout." But the term is used in a wider sense, 
as that which counteracts or cures an evil of any kind, which may 
exist in or threaten a person or society. "Civil government is the 
remedy for the evils of natural liberty." It is applied also to the 
mind, soul and spiritual nature as that which removes, cures or pre- 
vents uneasiness, distress or grief. Prior thus uses the term in the 
line "Our griefs how swift, our remedies how slow!" The term is also 
applied to conditions, as that which repairs loss, disaster, or brings 
reparation. In some things there is no remedy, as in destruction 
by fire, and in death in this life. As a verb the term has the 
same general meaning only in an active sense. In this discussion 
the term remedy is used in the strict sense physically, mentally and 
morally. Is there any remedy for the murders, the mutilations, 
the mental anguish and distraction, and the moral obliquity of 
"the Secret Lodge System?" This remedy is effected by stages. 
These are: 

1. The Individual in his conviction of the truth, as to methods, 
principles, motives associations and resultant actions. So long as 
men see wrong, indorse the wrong, and practice the wrong, just 



Part V: The Remedy 191 



so long will all remedial agencies prove ineffectual. True teach- 
ing and conviction come first. In the former part of this work our 
aim has been to so present and urge the truth in all its main bear- 
ings as to produce a firm conviction of the truth on this vital 
issue. The process of presentation and reasoning convinced and 
confirmed and maintained the attitude of the author's mind. And 
it seems that it ought to have the same effect on all other honest 
minds. It seems also that the train of reasoning pursued in this 
work ought to cure any rational mind of dishonesty on the subject. 
Ultimately there is no interest, to any man, in being in the wrong. 
And none of us can afford to throw away eternal interests for tem- 
porary benefits, since reparation for all wrong must be made any- 
how here or hereafter. I am utterly opposed to all forms of organ- 
ized secretism, or secret societies in all countries, and for any pur- 
pose whatever. They can not be justified from any consideration. 
They always indicate an abnormal condition of society. Even in 
their simplest forms they are fraught with mischief, and do more 
harm than good. They are an imposition on the public. Fifty years 
of study and observation confirm me in this conviction. The greater 
good can always be done by open, frank and honest measurers. 
The close methods are universally pretentious, simulating far more 
good than they actually possess or accomplish. Their inevitable 
tendency is to put the bold, bad, unscrupulous men and women to 
the front, giving them an undue advantage over the more con 
servative and scrupulous members of the system, and thus corrupt- 
ing more and more the whole body, thus having an evil effect on 
society in general. They draw away membership, time, influence, 
effort and means from the home, the church and the civil govern- 
ment, and from the direct action of a just public sentiment and 
thus vitiate the whole body politic, in all its ramifications. This 
dark system enables men to accomplish ends, that the same parties 
would not dare to attempt in a public manner. Thus they practice 
the most infamous impositions on the public and on private parties, 
with little fear of detection and less of just punishment. They 
readily and easily shield, protect, countenance and promote evil 
persons, and put down the good. 



192 The Secret Lodge System 



Secretism, that is organized secrecy, is the method invariably- 
chosen by burglars, thieves, robbers, hypocrites, liars; seducers, 
anarchists, murderers, unclean persons, and evil disposed characters 
of every description. The secret orders produce unnatural divisions 
between individuals, in families, in churches, in society, and in 
state governments. They force abnormal conditions. Their ten- 
dency is not to reform or advance civil governments, but to per- 
vert and subvert them, and to bring on bloody and destructive wars. 
They prevent the amicable settlement of difficulties. They breed 
disturbances that would not otherwise exist. They are the very 
opposite of openness, frankness, and of free and public discussion. 
They resist and debar an open investigation. They put an embargo 
on the human soul. They are excessively confidential. They make 
confidence a compulsion, not a matter of judgment and discretion. 
They put a finger on the mouth of every one who holds member- 
ship in any one of the whole category of the secret orders. They 
are the nests, the breeding places of slyness, cunning, craft, false- 
hood, insincerity, double-dealing and deceit. They are the hot 
beds of all the vices, and lead to a disregard of all the ten com- 
mandments, and of the Golden Rule. They teach indirect and 
sinister methods, in social, educational, religious, civil and com- 
mercial life. They are clandestine combinations. They crush out 
or materially hinder frank, sincere, conscientious, honest men, 
and thus corrupt public morals. They promote the advancement 
of their own without due regard to relative character, merit or 
qualifications. They are partial in theiT very elemental basis. 

The close or secret method is not divine. It is Satanic. The 
Open Method is Divine. There are no secret lodges in Heaven. 
There is no occasion for them in that pure realm where Divine 
Light in its effulgent rays penetrates every thing and every where. 
There are no dark recesses in the upper spheres. There is no 
occasion for any secret lodge or lodges in a pure state of Christian 
society on earth. When the prayer of Christ is fulfilled, ''Thy will 
be done on earth as it is in heaven," every secret lodge on earth 
will be empty. In the early and pure stages of Christianity the 
secret lodges died out wherever the Church went. To join the 



Part V; The Remedy 193 



Church was to come out of the secret lodge. The growth of a 
pure Church marks the decadence of the secret lodge. The existence 
of the lodge indicates an abnormal state of society, a wrong educa- 
tion, corrupt condition of the Church, and an ineffectual form and 
administration of the civil government. 

The normal man and woman are in the likeness and image 
of their Creator. The lodge as in Eden mars this image. 

Where the Individual in the activities of life, fulfills his func- 
tions as divinely ordained, secret societies have no basis and cease 
to exist. 

Solomon in his corrupt days was no doubt affiliated with the 
Secret Lodge System. It was in keeping with his character. He 
was into every thing that human art and device could reach in 
his day. He had commerce with one thousand women, built tem- 
ples to idol gods, married heathen women contrary to the divine 
law, and was a tyrant in civil government. He died a true pene- 
tent, or under the ban of God. The question is in dispute. He 
is no example to us in his evil ways. He is commendable in his 
better qualities. His association with the lodge system, is no com- 
mendation of the orders, any more than Arnold's abilities were 
a commendation of his treason. Barbarous people and sinister 
minds take easily to the lodge system. It suits the carnal nature, 
but the Christian instinct is against the very atmosphere of the 
lodge room, which smells of sulphur. 

It is a mere assumption, without any historic proof whatever, 
that the holy Saints Johns were members of the secret system. 
It is a libel on their sacred character. The assertion is a piece 
of unblushing effrontery. It is evident on the face of the record 
that Christ had no commerce with the Secret Lodge System in 
any form of approval. When questioned on this very point in his 
mock trial, he said with great emphasis, with reference to this 
whole subject, "In secret have I said nothing." This is a personal 
statement of a personal conviction, and given in a personal man- 
ner. This conviction has grown out of deep study, wide reading, 
varied experiences, and extensive observation, and an association 
with many classes of persons, through a series of over fifty years. 



194 The Secret Lodge System 



The processes of mind through which I have reached these convic- 
tions are given in the foregoing pages. What has convinced me 
ought to convince others, even the most skeptical. The case is as 
clear as an unclouded sunbeam. I think there is no escape from the 
conclusion I have reached. The logic to my mind is faultless. Even 
quibbling falls flat before the stroke. There is no ground in this 
field of radiant thought upon which the Secret Lodge System can 
stand. It has been the aim of the writer to produce a like per- 
sonal conviction of the truth, in the. mind of every reader, and 
lead each one to the utter abandonment and condemnation of the 
whole Secret Lodge System. 

This personal attitude is primal. It is not a question of policy 
about which men may honestly differ. It is a deep principle of 
universal and eternal consequence. Until this personal and soul 
conviction is produced, we are but tampering, agitating and toying 
with the outer edges of the issue, while the heart of the System 
remains untouched. 

When every man, woman and child, from conviction abandons 
the lodges, then, and then only, will they cease to exist. The pur- 
pose of this book is vital, primal and basal. Men, women and 
children are saved from ruin, not in groupes, but one by one. If 
we can not produce personal conviction we can not save men. 

2. The Home. The family is ordained of God. It was started 
in Eden. The Home was in the Garden amid its trees and flowers, 
and fruits. God solemnized the nuptials of the first pair, and still 
claims a share in every marriage, and without his approval no true 
marriage can obtain. True marriage is an indissoluble tie, cemented, 
consecrated, and held sacred by the hand of God. Love is the basis 
of marriage, and the cord entwining the home in a bundle of un- 
alloyed bliss, confidence and purity. The family is an organic form 
of more than one person. There must be two at least, and these 
of opposite sexes. Beyond these there is no special limit as to 
numbers. But God intends that the family shall multiply, and has 
so provided in nature. 

The family is not a secret lodge. It is not founded on a secret 
vow. The ceremony and vow are a matter of publicity and of public 






Part V; The Remedy 195 



record. No secret signs, grips, pass-words, or ceremonies belong 
to the marriage ceremony, obligation, or home, to which a simple 
rap gives admittance. Every home is a royal kingdom. Its laws, 
relations and associations are ordained of God, the church and the 
civil government. It has its privacies, and its precincts are sacred 
from unworthy intruders, but it needs no secret oath for its pro- 
tection. The home has no need of the secret lodge affiliation. Cain 
belonged to the lodge. Like all the secret lodges he engaged in 
false and unacceptable worship. Abel gave open and undisguised 
offering. Cain was wroth. Sin lay at his own door. Secretly he 
enticed his brother to the fields. Secretly in his anger he slew the 
man. Secretly he hid his brother away from human sight. Adam 
and Eve being members of the secret lodge they had formed in 
the garden, did not concern themselves about Abel. Let him look 
after his own concerns. He does not belong to the lodge. But 
Abel had a friend in God. God heard the voice of Abel's blood call- 
ing from the ground, and called Cain to account. 

With the ideal Christian Home the infamous Secret Lodge 
System ceases. Where the right relations exist between husband 
and wife, and children and other inmates of the Home there is 
no room or call, or necessity for any form of a secret oath-bound 
organization. Its introduction is attended with evil consequences. 
The Lodge ties, associations, demands, time, influence, are all in- 
consistent with the best interest of the Home. Perfect the Home 
and you destroy the Lodge. Corrupt the Home and you open the 
way for this sink of sin, called the Secret Lodge System. 

3. The School. Life itself is a school. The Home is a school. 
The Church is a school. The civil government is a school. But 
apart from all these, yet in conjunction with all of them there is 
an organization we call the School. It is a system comprehensive 
in its nature including all branches of training and development 
in all lines of physical, mental and spiritual culture and develop- 
ment. It begins in the nursery, on the mother's knee, in the kin- 
dergarten, and in the primary department of our Sunday and secular 
day schools. It extends through all grades to the University and 
the Polytechnic Institute. It comprehends all arts, callings and 



196 The Secret Lodge System 



sciences, as agriculture, mining, metalling, manufactures, law, medi- 
cine, theology, teaching, engineering, invention and whatever pertains 
to the activities of human life. The School includes any proper means 
for the impartation of useful information, or the proper develop- 
ment of body, mind or soul. In all this wide realm there is no 
place, no legitimate demand, or lawful use for the Secret Lodge 
System, in its clandestine operations, and of secreting silly secrets, 
to advantage some, to the detriment of others. The whole thing 
is so supremely ridiculous, that I am amazed that men with any 
consideration need to be argued or reasoned with on the subject. 
The school is designed to impart instruction to all in as open a man- 
ner as the unclouded day. The whole system of education in its 
incipiency and unfoldment is the very reverse of the Secret Lodge 
System. The one is to open out, the other is to cover up. The 
one is to enlighten, the other is to darken. It is an exotic, not 
native, to the educational system, and this should be so taught 
in all the schools, from the lowest to the most advanced. The col- 
leges do well to exclude them from their halls of learning. They 
are an infectious disease, and poison the minds of the young and 
fit them for the basest conduct in after life. When men, women 
and children are properly taught in all the departments of school 
life, the iniquity of this system of darkness, we shall have laid 
a sure foundation for the exclusion of this monster from society. 

We need a natural and national uniform system of education, 
under the direction of the Bureau of Education at Washington. 
Each state should be a department controlling its local affairs under 
the legislature. Each county should be a unit with a central high 
school in each township. Children should be conveyed to the 
schools. Each one of these central high schools should be on a farm 
of at least forty acres of land with appropriate buildings for the 
schools and the teachers, the principal should have the manage- 
ment and working of the farm for the support of the school The 
teachers and pupils should spend a portion of their time in farm 
and house work, and in keeping the buildings and grounds in order, 
clean and in repair. The school should also teach the use of tools. 

The school should be a home, and a model family. The noon 






Part V; The Remedy 197 



repast should be taken in the teachers' residences on the school 
grounds. The girls should take turns in preparing the noon re- 
past under the direction of the matrons or lady teachers. The 
school should be an ideal home. Parents respectively should fur- 
nish sufficient food to the school for the noon repast. All these 
public schools should continue ten months in the year. Thus school 
life would be a home life, and all would be kept near to nature. 
Ladies then could become life teachers without suppressing the 
instinct of motherhood. The county high school in the county town 
would be the culmination of the county work, and would in many 
instances easily be the university where literature, law, medicine 
and theology would be taught, because the teaching forces would 
all be on the ground in the teachers of the schools, the practicing 
lawyers, the practitioners of medicine and the pastors of the 
Churches. The art of printing could be taught in the newspaper 
offices, and handicraft of various sorts could be taught in the 
factories and shops. And with a just financial system, such as the 
nation should have, industry, intelligence, economy and thrift would 
prevail in all circles of society. The home life would he main- 
tained. Virtue and religion would be held in high esteem. True 
love would be cultivated, homes would be happy, divorces would 
diminish, crime would largely cease, and no one would have any 
occasion to hide his record or movements in the Secret Lodge 
System. All would learn to be helpful to each other, and to care 
for each other's interests, as well as their own. In this state of 
society no one but an intended or actual criminal would think of 
organizing a secret society. And if he attempted such a movement 
he would accomplish nothing, unless he first corrupted those he 
drew into his infamous scheme. A proper educational system will 
make the Secret Lodge System impossible. 

4. The Church. 1. The Church is a child of God's own plant- 
ing. It came from His infinite mind. Part of the Church is in 
Heaven, part is on earth. The membership are of the Divine Choice. 
The True Church is a spiritual priesthood. They are not nominal, 
but actual. They have the spirit and mind of Christ. They know 
him and He knows them. They are found among all the denomina- 



798 The Secret Lodge System 

tions. Their names are not all on the earthly Church rolls, nor 
are all whose names are on the Church records, members of His 
family. Men are often deceived, but God is never deceived. His 
people may be divided on earth, but they will not be divided in 
Heaven. Men may condemn God's children on earth, but God will 
not disown them in the judgment day. All the names of the Church 
of the first born are written in Heaven. They will be acquitted 
of all blame in the day of final trial. They are washed and made 
white, and are kept by the power of God unto the day of redemption. 
The Church of God has existed through the ages. It will continue 
to the end of time on earth, and will be transferred to heaven to 
continue forever. 

We read of a church and the Church in the Word of God. 
The Church in the true sense is the whole body of true believers 
on earth and in heaven. A church is a local body of believers 
organized for divine worship and the spread of the Gospel, and 
the care of the poor. It is composed of men, women and children, 
living in the fear, service and enjoyment of God, and in due form 
according to the Word of God. They consist of laymen, deacons, 
elders and pastors. They observe the Lord's Supper and baptism. 
They live in love, good will, harmony and helpfulness. The churches 
are under a spiritual government divinely ordained. Of this there 
are three forms, suited to different stages of human development. 
These are, first, the Episcopal, in which the ministers alone rule. 
This form is adapted to the initial stages of Christian development, 
and is advisable in all missionary fields. The second is the Pres- 
byterial, and is suited to a higher stage of development, when 
there are those who are competent, in the church, to be advisers, 
and helpers in the discipline and government, and business of the 
church. It marks a transitional stage. The third is that of the 
Congregational, when general intelligence so prevails among all the 
membership, that they may together consistently share in the govern- 
ment of the church. These forms are all divinely ordained and 
serve important ends. They are sometimes found in a mixed state. 
The people as they advance in intelligence should pass from one 
form to another till they come to the highest. It is very unwise 



Part V; The Remedy 199 



for any denomination or system of churches to tie themselves un- 
changeably to any fixed form of government. Reason indicates that 
as churches advance in general intelligence as to doctrine, life, disci- 
pline, activity and government, they ought to be advanced to a more 
liberal form and policy. A Christian people should have that form 
of discipline and government which best suits their condition. 

There are seven sources of divine knowledge which God has 
opened up to us. And we may profit by all of them. These are: 
1. Instinct. 2. Intuition. 3. Reason. 4. The Works of Na- 
ture. 5. Conscience. 6. The Holy Bible. 7. The Holy Spirit. 
There may be also added an eighth. This is that of Experience 
including secular history. Through all these channels Divine Light 
comes to us. And in any true interpretation of the Written Word, 
all these seven points, when properly understood, harmonize. Any 
interpretation of the Word that contradicts any of these channels 
is a wrong interpretation. Any one who reads the Written Word 
in the light of 1) Instinct, 2) Intuition, 3) Reason, 4) Nature, 5) 
Conscience, 6) Experience, 7) the Holy Spirit, will not go wrong. 
These mediums, these seven channels of light and knowledge are 
given us along with the Written Word, as checks against error, 
falsehood, delusion, superstition, and the misinterpretation of God';* 
revealed will in the Written Word of God. I have interpreted the 
Holy Bible in the light of these seven agencies, and we find nothing 
but the utter condemnation of the whole Secret Lodge System. The 
array of evidence against the Lodge System is simply amazing. 
The thing is weighed in the Divine Scales and found absolutely 
wanting. All the good the lodge system has is stolen from the 
Divine Records. This "mystery of iniquity" has actually "stolen 
the livery of heaven to serve the devil in." 

But it is useless to condemn a thing unless you offer some- 
thing better. The better thing I present in this section is the 
Divine Ideal of the Church. If the Church of Jesus Christ will per- 
form its functions as God has ordained, the Lodge will have no ex- 
cuse for its existence. 

It is our business by the grace of God, to lift up the Church 
to the Divine Ideal. Just as long as we neglect or emasculate the 



200 The Secret Lodge System 



Church of Jesus Christ, and go wandering and wasting our time, 
means and energies after the secret lodges, just so long may we 
expect the Church to decline or move slowly and the lodges to 
prosper. It is a species of infidelity that prefers something else 
than that which God has ordained. If the churches were what 
they ought to be, or what God designs them to be, the world would 
soon be overrun with pure Christianity. If the churches were one 
with Christ, nothing could stand before them, nothing could supplant 
them, nothing could supercede them. There is something wrong in 
a man's mind, heart and life, who will hang to the lodge and the 
Church, or who will discard the Church for the lodge, or who will 
neglect the Church for the lodge. There is something wrong in a 
man who will in any sense cling to the lodge. The true Church then 
is a Remedy for the lodge evil. 

5. The State Government. This is a divine conception. The 
essential principles are given in the Institutes of Moses, and in the 
New Testament. There are four forms of civil government. These 
are: 1st. The Military. 2nd. The Monarchy. 3rd. The Aris- 
tocracy. 4th. The Republic. They are all useful in their places. 
Their object is the welfare of man. Government is a necessity. 
It is for the restraint and punishment of evil doers, and for the 
praise and protection of the law abiding citizens. In a well ordered 
civil government, provision is made for land, currency, employment, 
education, the protection of citizens and their property, and for 
the reasonable wants and demands of the citizens. It also provides 
for the freedom of divine worship, and the regulation of the family 
relation, and makes provision for the poor, and for highways of 
travel, and the means of the distribution of intelligence among the 
people. These are the principle functions of the civil government. 
Beyond these there seems to be no call for any underhanded or- 
ganizations to control individuals, homes, churches, or the civil 
power. It is extraneous, unnecessary, a reflection on the civil au- 
thorities and an unwarranted interference with the performance of 
their functions. It is a subvertion of the very purpose of the civic 
power, making it an abortion, or a subservient to an irresponsible 
set of self constituted magnates. A true civil government covers 



Part V: The Remedy 201 



the ground of the secular demands of a province or nation, so that 
a duplicate in the form of a clandestine organization, is an abnormal 
condition, and is sure to result in evil consequences. It subverts 
justice and precipitates partiality and breeds corruption, and de- 
stroys confidence and leads to anarchy in its most dangerous form, 
because hidden from public view. 

6. Commerce is the buying, selling and the transportation of 
goods, and the exchange of commodities. It is domestic and for- 
eign. Domestic Commerce is the buying, selling and exchange of 
goods in one's own country. Foreign Commerce is trade with other 
nations. It is a function of government to look after and encourage 
Commerce, and to pass and enforce laws to protect and promote 
and encourage just commercial transactions. But we find that 
there are secret combinations, constantly baffling the state and na- 
tional government in their endeavors at promoting the equitable 
transaction of business in the commercial world. These men de- 
vise every means to betray and rob the people, and to evade all 
just laws, and show no regard to justice or equity. The govern- 
ment being sufficient along these lines should enforce just laws, 
and suppress all organizations and movements, derogatory to the 
best interests of the populace. 

These remedial agencies will all be efficacious, if properly em- 
ployed. The conviction of the individual, the ideal home, the true 
system of education, the untrammeled Christian Church built on the 
Truth of God, the civil government in the fulfillment of its true func- 
tions, all look in the same direction, and reach desirable ends. They 
are channels through which all can work. The way is blazed, and the 
end is in sight. Let us with one accord rally to the rescue, and all will 
be well with us in time and in eternity. Let us arise in the might 
and majesty of God, and free ourselves from this dark monster, 
this abnormal incubus, this devilish octopus whose tentacles are 
crushing the vital life out of individuals, our homes, our schools, 
our churches, the civil government, and our commercial transactions. 

7. But in order to do this we must have Divine help. We must 
call to our aid, the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We 
meet the hidden foe on an open field with the breast plate of faith, 



202 The Secret Lodge System 



the helmet of salvation, the preparation of the Gospel, the Sword 
of the Spirit which is the Word of God, with Christ in us the hope 
of glory, and victory is sure. We pray that the Spirit and power 
of Christ may be in our minds, hearts and lives, in our homes, 
in all the churches, in all our educators, in the civil government, 
and in all our commercial relations. We want not only prayer, 
but faith and works. These go together and produce sure results. 
The Great Remedy, the Panacea, the unmistakable cure for 
the Secret Lodge System is Christ, in his incarnation, doctrine, 
teaching, life, example, acceptance, power, suffering, death, resurrec- 
tion, ascension, Holy Spirit and mission among men. These ele- 
ments must interpenetrate all phases of society in their true inter- 
pretation, their belief, their practice. Amen. 



APR 15 1909 



